Come Back To Me
by sevanderslice
Summary: Part One of the "Come Back To Me" series - An AU Post-Doomsday reunion story in which Rose gets a strange visitor who may hold the answer to all she seeks. 10th DoctorRose. Now complete!
1. Getting On With Life

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Getting On With Life

Rose Tyler let out a long-suffering sigh as she laid her head back on the top of her executive office chair. Another day over and another puzzle successfully solved. She let herself smile a little she closed her eyes to reflect on the past week.

A temporal disturbance in central London had caused several unexplained disappearances. After discovering temporary time residue (for lack of a better description) left at the site of each disappearance, Rose and her team had been able to track the anomaly back to its source. It turns out a couple of ten-year-old boys had found part of a time machine in their back yard and decided to play with it. How it got there in the first place was currently unknown, but being investigated by the alien tech department. Regardless of the machine's intended use, it was fully capable of trapping unsuspecting victims in little time bubbles, perfectly preserved and unaware of how much time had passed.

Rose and her team had had a hell of time explaining to twenty-five confused people how they'd not only ended up in a science lab, but had also missed the better part of a week. Torchwood's HR department had come up with some rubbish story about a violent flu strain causing hallucinations, but people believe what they are led to believe and those who don't aren't taken seriously anyway. Skepticism had become Torchwood's greatest ally.

"Hey, Lazy-bones!" Rose snapped out of her musings and looked over at the office door. A genuine grin stretched across her face when she saw her best friend, Mickey Smith, at the entrance. "It's almost one o'clock," he complained, tapping at his wristwatch. "I thought we were going to lunch."

"Um, yeah," she agreed sitting up and rustling through the papers on her desk. "My team just got through debriefing the victims of that new '_violent flu'. _I just got back to my office a second ago." She stood up and grabbed her handbag, before aimlessly looking around the room for her jacket. "The families had to be notified and the kids who took the thing had to be reprimanded without letting them know what really happened and…"

"You're doing a great job Rose," Mickey smiled affectionately as he picked her suede coat off the filing cabinet. He gently reached a hand to her face and caressed the dark circles there with his thumb, "but I think maybe you work too hard." He scowled and dropped his hand as Rose flinched a little at the contact. "It's been over a year. You need to start living again."

Is that all it had been, a year? Rose shook her head: a whole year of secrets and sadness. Sometimes it felt like so much longer. It was all she could do just to keep waking up every morning. The job was everything. It kept her sane. Sure, she loved her mum and dad. She doted on her baby brother and she didn't know what she'd do without Mickey, but the job kept _Him_ alive. It kept her making the kinds of differences that _He _would want her to make. Rose fingered the little brass plaque that her mum had bought for her. It read, "Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth_." _ That was who she'd become. It was who she _had_ to be, for _Him_.

"I know Mickey," she told him, looking up from the name plate. "I'm trying. There's just so much to do."

Her voice grew rough at the last few words and Mickey instantly regretted bringing up the subject. "There's lots of people to help you do it. You don't have to save the Earth all by yourself." Mickey took both of Rose's small hands in his and looked into her hazel eyes. "How many friends have you made since you got here, huh?" Rose opened her mouth to protest but Mickey interrupted her. "And I don't mean coworkers, they don't count. When's the last time you went to a party that your Mum didn't throw or went shopping for a pretty dress just because you wanted it. When's the last time you sang a stupid song just to feel good, Rose? When's the last time you danced?"

Rose knew the answers to all of Mickey's questions. The last time she wore a pretty dress, the last time she sang, the last time she danced, were all with the Doctor, all with _Him_. She just didn't feel like having fun. There was a hole inside her that couldn't be filled and part of her didn't want to fill it. That would mean he was really gone for good and she just wasn't ready to accept that yet.

Letting go of Rose's hands, Mickey took a step back and inhaled deeply. "Look, let's just forget I said anything, okay? There's a great chippy around the corner, my treat."

Rose couldn't help but return his infectious grin. "You know all the ways to my heart, don't ya?"

Mickey took her hand in his and led her towards the door. "Only in my dreams Babe."

* * *

"Let me go at once!" Demanded a loud, rather young voice emanating from the front lobby as Rose and Mickey made their way to the exit. "You have to let me through!"

Rose rolled her eyes before looking up at Mickey who was grinning from ear to ear. "Probably another kid wanting to see the space ships, yeah?" His dark eyes shone with nostalgia. "Reminds me of me when I was young."

"Yeah," Rose chided him. "You were always getting me into trouble. It got worse once you discovered the internet."

"You got into enough trouble on your own without anyone to help," he countered as they turned the corner, their shoes clicking on the tile floors in perfect rhythm. "In fact, I'd say you got i_me_/i into more trouble than I got you into. I can't remember how many times I had to bail you out."

"Yeah," Rose laughed and gently punched him in the arm, "idiot." Her smile faded when she remembered the last time she'd heard him called that. Would the memories never stop hurting?

As they approached the front door Rose could see a dark-haired young man struggling against two guards. Joe, head of security was trying to reason with him.

"Look kid, there's nothing to see here. We've got no space ships, no time machines, and definitely no aliens. This is just a research facility. We create pharmaceuticals, you know, medicine? So why don't you just let me call your parents and we can get everything straitened out." Joe's speech sounded as tired as he undoubtedly was. Usually the 'we're boring here, please leave' speech put people off, but this kid wasn't buying it.

"I know exactly what this facility is for and I don't think you want me broadcasting it to everyone in the room. I know things about this place I'm sure you couldn't even begin to imagine." The kid certainly had guts. Rose had to give him that; no brains, but guts. "I told you I have a message for someone. This could cost you your job do you know that? My cousin is most influential." Rose had to laugh at that comment.

This kid couldn't be more than twelve years old and he was using words like _influential._ If this boy really did have a cousin in Torchwood they'd be in a mess of trouble. Rose was glad it wasn't her.

"Come on Rose," Mickey gently took her arm. "Let's go. We've seen this all before."

Rose ignored Mickey for a second to hear Joe's response. "Okay, Kid, I'll bite. What's your cousin's name?"

A cold chill ran through Rose's body and she froze in her tracks when she heard the child's reply.

"Rose Tyler," the boy clearly stated. "I need to see Rose Tyler."


	2. Strange Relations

Chapter 2

Strange Relations

"Rose Tyler." The boy clearly stated. "I need to see Rose Tyler."

The lobby instantly grew unnaturally quiet as the eyes of every staff member within hearing distance instantly focused on Rose. She smiled anxiously, her heart pounding rhythmically in her chest in a familiar combination of apprehension and curiosity. As usual, curiosity won out and she pulled a one-eighty to stare at this outrageous child. How had he gotten her name? This was a top secret facility and she'd never seen this boy before.

"Joe," Rose's voice echoed across the white tile towards security. "Let him go for a second."

"Rose," Mickey exclaimed as he reached for her arm, missing by inches. "What are you doing, you don't know this kid."

Rose turned her back on the security desk to face her friend. She placed a perfectly manicured forefinger against her lips for a second, effectively shushing him. "I need to know what this is about. It shouldn't take too long."

"Yeah, that's what you always say." His complaints followed her all the way to Joe and the boy. "I'll be right back, Mickey. Just wait here a second, Mickey. Don't use too much paste while you're waiting for the glitter Mickey. I don't think so Rose. I'm coming with you. I'm not just back up anymore; I've got the gun now."

"Mickey!" Rose spun neatly on the heels of her expensive pumps and lowered her voice to a whisper; much to the disappointment of their growing audience. "He's just a little boy!"

"There is no such thing as 'just' anything in this place Rose. You need to be careful. Don't listen to some sob story from this lying kid. You know as well as I do that he isn't your cousin."

"Just a second ago you were smiling at the antics of a resourceful little boy and now you think he's dangerous? Besides, if he has my name he knows something." Rose countered. "And he might be in trouble." Rose took a deep breath before continuing. She placed a hand on Mickey's forearm to sooth his temper. "Look, you don't need to be protective right now. Half the people in here have guns, some that don't even need bullets, and this is only going to take a second, yeah?" She smiled brilliantly at him.

Mickey could never say no to that smile. "Fine Rose, but I'm staying close." Rose tossed up her hands in a silent 'whatever' before turning back around to approach the squirming child and his captors.

"Now Joe," Rose used her most authoritative voice. "What seems to be the trouble here?"

The head of security stuttered for a moment before regaining his composure. "I'm very sorry Miss Tyler; this young man here says he's your cousin. He insists on speaking with you. His name isn't on the list and he doesn't have any parents with him, or even an ID. I didn't want to bother you with it."

"It's all right Joe. You did everything correctly."

The head of security took a deep breath in relief. "Thank you Miss Tyler."

Rose looked down at the child still struggling between two security guards she didn't immediately recognize. At first glance nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He was dressed in a plain brown hoodie with a red T-shirt and blue jeans. While not new, his white trainers showed little sign of wear and didn't seem to be of any particular name brand. Rose noted with some concern that he'd not dressed for the frigid weather. His nose, ears, cheekbones and hands were all tinged slightly pink, with a sprinkling of light brown freckles beneath the blush. His chestnut hair was a little on the long side and mussed from his resistance; it fell over his eyes and curled around his ears a bit. Rose reached down to smooth the unruly locks away so she could get a better look at his eyes. She almost gasped out loud at what she saw. They were purple, not dark blue, but purple, and had swirling rings of green flowing though the irises like smoke. These were _not_ human eyes, and they stared back at her with unflinching determination. This little man was on a mission.

"Don't you recognize me Rose?" The boy's voice was surprisingly mature for one so young. "You came to my birthday party. Don't you remember?" He reached out to take her hand, his chilly fingers wrapping themselves around her warm ones. His innocence was so convincing the security guards had released him. "My mum had this really great theme, remember? It was Little Red Riding Hood and, "he squeezed her hand tightly, "the Bad Wolf." Rose did gasp then and looked down into the boy's impossible eyes. He didn't say anything further, the child didn't even open his mouth, but Rose heard the words clearly in her mind.

_I have a message for you Rose._


	3. A Chip For Your Thoughts

Chapter 3

A Chip for Your Thoughts

_I have a message for you, Rose._

Rose paced back and forth in front of the windows in her office, occasionally glancing out at the tiny cars twenty-eight stories below. The kid hadn't done anything extraordinary since broadcasting that thought to her twenty minutes ago in the lobby. He just sat at _her_ desk eating _her_ fish and chips and doing nothing useful whatsoever!

"This is great!" He mumbled between huge bites of food and an occasional finger lick. "It feels like ages since I've been to London. I love chips."

"You said you had a message for me," Rose prompted in a cautiously polite voice.

"Look, Rose," Mickey interjected, before the boy could respond. "He's obviously bluffing. He just wanted a free meal and quick look around the office. I bet he doesn't know anything."

The child opened his mouth to answer but Rose cut him off. "Mickey, give the boy a chance. I heard him speak in my head. I don't know anyone else on this planet who can do that, do you?"

"Rose, you want to believe so badly, do you think maybe you wished that thought into your head?" Mickey ducked a little as if expecting a blow. He wasn't disappointed.

"So now I'm crazy!" Rose raised her voice another notch. "I know what I heard, Mickey and this kid has something to say."

"Well I think…"

"That you should ask me?" Rose and Mickey stopped arguing and turned to face the boy. The grease covering the lower half of his face ruined the intelligent expression. Rose couldn't hide the small smile that slipped out.

"Sure," she answered him softly, her irritation with Mickey dieing a quick death, "Let's get you cleaned up first, yeah?" She reached into the takeout bag and handed the kid some napkins. He enthusiastically wiped the grease from his face and hands.

"I keep rehearsing in my mind how to tell you this, how to explain who I am and where I came from without giving you too much information. I suppose I should just go for it, seeing as how we are running very short on time." The boy nervously glanced at his wristwatch before continuing. "You see, I come from another world."

"Oh, come on!" Mickey exclaimed. "Like we haven't heard that before?"

Rose's patience was wearing thin. "Mickey, could you just sit down and let the boy tell his story, yeah?" Mickey scowled, but obeyed. She turned towards the child again and smiled encouragingly. "You said you had a message for me."

"Well," he looked a little nervous for a second. "Sort of, but really I just said that to get your attention." He held up his hand to stave off any arguments and quickly continued. "You see, I'm really here to bring you back, to take you home with me."

Rose's heart jumped into her throat. Her response was guarded, an attempt at not sounding too hopeful. "Where's home?"

The child shook his head, smiling up at her almost affectionately. "My first impressions of you are not living up to the hero worship that has followed me all my life. Rose the Brave, Rose the defender of the Earth, Rose the Dalek Killer, would at least have some idea of where I came from?"

Rose was close to tears, she couldn't bear to be wrong. "Please tell me who you are."

"Haven't you guessed yet?" He reached into his pocket to retrieve a small silver object on a chain. He held it up for her inspection.

Rose stared at in awe before reaching beneath her blouse to pull up the pendant she always wore against her heart. She slipped it from around her neck and held it up next to its twin. This child had a TARDIS key. "You're his new companion," she stated.

"You could say that." The boy answered cryptically

Rose became frantic. "Where is the Doctor? Why didn't he come for me himself? She stood up to tower over the child, her breath coming in little pants. "If you or your people have hurt him in any way I'll…"

"No!" The boy stood up abruptly and placed a hand on her arm. "I would never hurt him. He is the most important person in my life. As for why he didn't come to get you himself, all I can say is that he couldn't. You're just going to have to trust me on that."

Before she could answer, Mickey stepped between, gently ushering her away from the boy. "Do you trust this kid?" He asked quietly.

Rose lifted her gaze to meet Mickey's lovely brown eyes. This man would walk through fire for her, _had_ walked through fire for her, and Rose would do the same in a heartbeat. But his weren't the eyes she wanted looking at her with so much love. It would have made everything simpler if they were, but Rose had never done things the easy way.

"I have to trust him Mickey. I don't have a choice. If there's a chance…" She let her voice trail off, unable to find the words to emphasize how important this was to her. "How else do you explain it? He knows things no one else should know."

Walking around her, Mickey took the child's shoulder in hand. "I want to know details little boy, specifics. Rose doesn't go anywhere without me until I'm convinced you're telling the truth.

A huge grin broke on the little freckled face. "You," he stated jovially, "are exactly like he said you were."


	4. Unaccompanied Minor

Chapter 4

Unaccompanied Minor

"You," he stated jovially, "are exactly like he said you were."

Mickey chuckled, his face breaking into an arrogant grin. "Okay," he said, reluctantly releasing the boy. "Tell us how you got here."

The kid sat back down and motioned for Rose and Mickey to do the same. "We're running out of time, but if this is the only way to get you to come with me, I suppose I'll have to tell you." He took a deep breath and turned to look straight at Rose to tell his story. "You see," he began. "I've been hearing stories about Rose Tyler as far back as I can remember. I know all about the Bad Wolf and how you saved the Doctor's life on that space platform. I've heard about your adventures with Captain Jack and Mickey the Idiot."

"Hey," Mickey protested, leaning forward in his chair. "That's not fair. I've held my own for a while now."

"You know," the boy continued." the Doctor always uses the title with quite a bit of affection. I was under the impression it was some sort of inside joke." Mickey seemed to accept that fact and relaxed. "He cared about all of you very much; Rose especially, but also you Mickey, and Jackie." The boy looked over at Rose. "He was very happy that your Mum and Dad got back together. He told me about the baby. Congratulations by the way, when's it due?"

Rose glanced at Mickey and then back at the boy, confused by the boy's innocent question. "Charlie's six months old now." she told him. "I haven't seen the Doctor for over a year."

"Oh no!" the boy closed his eyes and slumped back in his chair. "I was worried something like this would happen. I'm not nearly as accurate with the TARDIS as the Doctor is, and sometimes even _he_ makes mistakes. I tried to arrive just a couple weeks after your meeting on the beach, but I suppose it could have been worse. At least you're not an old lady or anything."

"Wait!" Rose interjected, staring at him incredulously, "You drove the TARDIS? How could you drive the TARDIS when you're just a little boy? I could never even remember which button was which."

"You're not psychic are you?" The boy countered. "Projecting thoughts like the one I sent you in the lobby takes a lot of energy and I don't do it very often. In fact, I can't even do it at all unless I have some sort of physical contact. However reading thoughts is easy and touch makes it even easier. The TARDIS is alive remember, and she helps me to understand her and how she works. It still isn't the easiest thing, but as you can see by my presence, I proved to be adequate to the task.

"How _did_ you get here," Rose interrupted. "He told me that the void between the two universes could never be crossed again. He said it would destroy everything."

"It would have," The boy continued. "There is no technology anywhere that can bridge the gap between our two dimensions, not with the cracks that Torchwood created when they brought over the Cybermen. There was no way whatsoever to reunite the two of you, or so we thought."

"Well," Rose prodded, "Tell me what happened to change that!"

"Okay, okay, just stop interrupting," he chided. "The Doctor and I were visiting some friends on Ciafus IV when we heard about an archaeological dig on a neighboring planet's moon. Apparently the ruins discovered there were even older than the Doctor has recorded history of." The boy broke off and looked around nervously for a second. "You know," he stated quietly, "I probably should be telling you this, it could damage time.

Rose rolled her eyes with impatience. "If you come from a different universe, does that even matter?"

"Oh," the boy seemed to contemplate this. "I never thought of that. I'm just so used to following the rules I guess it just became a habit."

"Right," Mickey answered sarcastically, "until you tried to sneak into a secret government facility.

"Leave off him Mickey, or he'll never finish his story." Rose looked back at the child. "Go ahead."

"Well," he continued, his little face lighting up with excitement. "We decided to go to the moon to see the dig. Once we got there the old city was mostly uncovered and the head scientists there had many artifacts lying on tables for cataloguing. The Doctor spotted a strange crystalline object mixed in with a bunch of broken pottery. Amazingly, it emitted a faintly red glow. We were all very curious as to how after millions of years this device could still be holding a charge of some kind. We couldn't imaging what could be powering it, let alone what it did. The doctor brought it back to the TARDIS for further study. What we found was unbelievable Rose!" The boy looked about ready to leap out of skin in his enthusiasm. "It was an inter-dimensional portal!"

Mickey looked at him skeptically. "So the Doctor decided to send a kid to come back here to get Rose?"

"Well, not exactly." The boy looked down at his fidgeting hands.

"Not exactly how?" Rose asked, a little bit of trepidation working itself into her stomach.

"Not exactly in the fact that I stole the device and the TARDIS and decided to come and get you myself." The words were spoken to the floor and came out in so much of a rush they sounded much like a single word.

Rose's face turned bright red. "He didn't send you for me? He doesn't even know you're here? How can you know he wants me back? You said you tried to pinpoint a time a few weeks after I left him. How long has it been for him and who are you anyway?" She could feel the room start to spin, her breath coming in little pant.

"Calm down Rose," Mickey stood up. "Do you need a bag to breathe into or anything?"

"No!" Rose all but screamed. "I need some answers and I need them now."

The boy stood up to reach deeply into the left front pocket of his jeans. He pulled out a glowing red glass marble and held it out in his palm. "This is the portal, Rose and it's going to open in a little under four hours to take me back to the TARDIS. If you're holding my hand at the time you come with me. If you're not, you stay here forever. It's a one-time use kind of thing; like those cameras you have in this time period, brilliant idea by the way."

"Who are you?" Rose demanded at least this much.

"I can't tell you that." He shook his head sadly as he stuffed the marble back in his pocket. "You can't know until you're back in the TARDIS with me."

Rose swallowed hard and continued. "That's just not fair. How can you expect me to trust you when you can't even give me your name?"

"That never stopped you from trusting the Doctor."

Rose swallowed tightly; this little man had just thrown down the gauntlet. "That's not fair either."

"No," he agreed, "but accurate all the same." He reached over to take her hand. "But ask me something else, I'll tell you what I can."

Rose had so many questions. How was she to choose? "How long has it been for the Doctor since he last saw me and why didn't he want to come get me himself?"

"I'm not sure exactly how long it has been, but if I had to guess I would say somewhere between twenty and fifty years or so." He squeezed her hand gently when Rose finally lost her battle against the tears. Rose swiped at them in frustration, unwilling to lose control.

"It's been so long. You're sure he still wants me to come back?"

"Out of all the things I've told you and all the things I can't, you've got to believe one thing, even if you decide you're staying here. He loves you so much, so very much. It doesn't mater how many adventures we go on or how many worlds we save. At the end of the day, I know he is wishing you were there to share in the glory. I know he loves me, I'm not debating that, but who he needs is i_you_. /i"

Rose sniffled a little and took the tissue Mickey offered her. "But if what you say is true, then why are you here instead of him?"

"There was still a risk." He glanced anxiously at his watch again before continuing on. "Torchwood made a spider web of cracks in the fabric of this universe in the war with the Cybermen. There was still a chance, albeit small, that a larger breach or break could occur even while using this ancient device. I watched the Doctor struggle with whether or not to come and get you. In the end I think his decision had more to do with him wanting to give you a normal life than any fear of damaging anything."

Rose wiped her nose and smiled sadly. "Sounds just like him," she answered softly, "trying to protect me from my own decisions. He knows I'd choose him; I i_always_/i chose him."

"I know that, Rose." He told her, watching sadly as a few more tears leaked out and slid down her cheeks. "There's a reason I decided to defy the Doctor's wishes and come back to get you. The night after we discovered what the object was he was in a strange mood. I was really worried about him, so instead of going off to bed like he told me, I watched him for a while. Now, normally he would have sensed my presence and sent me back to bed. The very fact that he was too distracted to notice worried me even more. I followed him into a part of the TARDIS I'd never seen before and into a room unlike any other. It was full of girly things. There were hairbrushes and stuffed animals, clothes scattered all around the bed. I'd never seen it before, so it couldn't have belonged to any of the companions we've had along recently. I realized it had to be your room, Rose. He must not have changed it since you left him, not in all that time."

"Really?" Rose croaked out through her tears.

"Really," he confirmed. "And seriously Rose, how much _pink_ does any one person need?"

She let out a watery laugh, distracted for the moment. "Pink's nice. Don't knock it till you try it."

The boy smiled back, his freckled face transforming into one of cheeky masculine pride. "I'll have to take your word on it."

Rose took a deep breath, "So what happened," she asked the boy, "I mean after you got over your pink overload?"

"Well," he continued, "I watched the Doctor for a while. He kind of wandered around the room, touching this and that, before stopping in front a chest of drawers. Then, he opened the top and couldn't see what he was doing for a moment, and then I saw you."

"What?" She looked up abruptly, instantly startled out of her tears. "How is that possible?"

"He must have recorded your last conversation. He stood there and watched the whole thing. I think he needed to say goodbye again. I've been with the Doctor a long time and I can count the times I've seen him cry one hand without using all of my fingers. I knew he loved you, I just didn't understand how much. He lost you all over again when he decided it was too risky try and cross the void. I couldn't let him give up like that; he means too much to me. In the morning he was acting like his regular jovial self again. It made me wonder how long he'd been faking it and if he'd ever been truly happy as long as I'd known him. When he went out to see the ruins again I claimed a headache and stayed behind. Once I got to Earth, in what I thought was the correct time period, I stashed the TARDIS next to a blue dumpster about a block from here and activated the device. I thought that twenty-four hours would be plenty of time to find you, but I was wrong. I've never been on my own before, not really. First I got lost and then those security guards detained me." He nervously glanced down at his watch again.

Rose looked up at a very stoic Mickey and contemplated what do next. "How much time did you say we have?" She asked the boy.

"We've got about three and half hours now Rose. Are you coming?"


	5. Saying Goodbye

Chapter 5

Saying Goodbye

"Are you coming?"

Rose glanced up from her bed where she was filling two large duffel bags with clothing and personal items. "I don't know why you're in such a hurry," She asked the boy. "We leave at the same amount of time no matter how fast I pack." She crossed her bedroom to grab a framed photo of her and Mickey mucking about on New Years Eve. She wrapped it in a powder blue dressing gown and stuffed it in beside her fuzzy slippers. Rose checked the alarm clock on the bed stand. They had a little less than two hours left; she hoped Mickey arrived with her parents soon.

"I want to be close to the TARDIS when we cross over." He explained nervously. "I don't want to have to go very far without anyone to help if we get detained. You're dead in my universe, remember?"

Rose stopped packing for a minute and closed her eyes. "Yeah," She said quietly, "I remember."

The boy jumped down from the stool upon which he had been perched and walked over to stand next to Rose. "I really want you to come home with me, Rose," he took her hand in his. "But I need you to be sure that it's what you really want."

She looked down at her outfit, a simple pair of khaki trousers, a pink t-shirt, and a denim jacket. It felt so much more natural, so much more like Rose than the elegant lilac pant suit she'd had on that morning. "Yeah," she answered the boy confidently, squeezing his hand a little. "I'm sure this is what want, but that doesn't mean I won't miss the people I leave behind."

"Speaking of which..." The boy sighed deeply as the front door slammed. Three sets of feet could clearly be heard running frantically up the stairs.

"Rose! Jackie Tyler's unmistakable voice echoed as it traveled up the stairs and down the hall to where Rose was zipping up her last duffel. She turned just in time to stop her mother's embrace from hurling her to the floor. "Don't leave us sweetheart." Her mum's voice was thick with tears and muffled against Rose's shoulder. "Stay here where it's safe, where people love you." Jackie pulled back to cup her daughter's face between her hands. "Stay here and have the life you deserve to have, Rose. It's what he wanted for you."

Rose glanced up to the doorway as the remaining three members of her family arrived. Mickey and Pete Tyler walked cautiously into her bedroom, her father carrying six-month-old Charlie against his shoulder. Rose stepped back from her mother to catch her breath. She was starting to get nauseous from so much weeping and wasn't sure how long she could handle all the good-byes.

"Are you really going, Rose?" Pete handed his son to Jackie and placed a gentle hand on his newfound daughter's shoulder. "Is this what you want?"

Rose looked up into Pete's understanding eyes. His compassion knew no bounds. "It is, Dad. I want this so badly."

Pete pulled Rose into his arms for what could be the last time. A few silent tears leaked from his closed lids. "I wasn't there when you were growing up and I didn't really get to be your father for very long, but if this is the last thing I can do for my daughter, then I'll help you in any way I can."

"Thank you Daddy," She whispered, keeping her head bowed against his chest for a moment, trying to memorize the feel of his strong arms around her. It seemed like she was always saying goodbye to this man.

Rose finally lifted her head when Jackie's protests started to sound startling frantic. "I can't loose you." She pleaded, reaching out to cup her daughter's cheek. "It was just you and me for so long. You're my baby."

"You're going to be fine Mum," Rose answered her, covering Jackie's beautifully manicured hand with hers. "I know you'll miss me. I'm gonna miss you terribly, but I need to go to him."

Jackie's famous temper started to boil up. "How do you know this is for real, Rose? This boy could be from anywhere. You don't know for sure he is what he says he is."

The child in question piped up from his refuge in the corner. "I know you love your daughter Mrs. Tyler, but I'm not lying. I'm here to take Rose home."

Jackie let out a desperate cry, hot tears trailing down her cheeks, "This is her home!"

"No mum," Rose's voice was gentle as she confronted her mother. "This isn't my home. I've tried mum, I really have. I love you, and dad, and Mickey. I absolutely dote on little Charlie, and I suppose my work at Torchwood has been rewarding…"

"But?" Jackie prompted.

"I'm incomplete. I feel like half a person all the time." Rose wrapped her arms around her mother, being careful not to crush Charlie. "I know you understand how I feel. If there had been anyway to get Dad back after he died, would you have done it?"

Jackie let out a little sob. Pete came up behind his wife and laid a supporting hand upon her back. "Short of losing you, "Jackie answered. " I would have moved heaven and earth to get him back."

"You know why I have to do this Mum."

"I know," Jackie voice cracked. "But I don't know what I'm going to do without you."

Rose pulled back to look into her mother's eyes, a huge grin illuminating her tear-streaked face. "You're going to have a fantastic life!"

Jackie chuckled in spite of the situation. "I don't think so Rose, not without you."

"Yes you will mum." Rose wrapped her arms around her mother again. "You're going to do it for me. Live your life to the fullest, because you know I'm exactly where I'm meant to be. I'll be with the Doctor."

Jackie pulled back to look into her daughters eyes, the grief I her expression now accompanied by a steely determination. "Then you promise me this, Rose Tyler. That man uses the word "impossible" like most people say they haven't slept in fifty years; everyone knows it doesn't mean much. If you find a way to come back, or even just to send me word of how you are, you do it. Okay?"

Rose embraced her again, her answer coming out in a broken sob. "I promise. But even if I can't, I want you to picture me happy, out there traveling the stars with my Doctor. And you need to remember that you aren't alone anymore, mum. You've got Dad, and Mickey, and this little fellow here." Rose pulled her baby brother away from Jackie and into her arms. "I think you're going to be my biggest regret little man." She stated while rocking him back and fourth against her chest. "I'm not going to get to see you grow up. You won't even remember me."

"We won't let him forget you." Pete told her, coming forward to embrace his weeping wife. "We'll tell him all about his big sister and how she defends another universe."

"Be good to them." She instructed her brother. "Mind your manners and eat all your vegetables. Try to keep your Uncle Mickey out of trouble and don't cause any intergalactic emergencies, okay?" Charlie blew a spit bubble and giggled when it popped. Rose smiled and held him closer. "I'll take that as a yes. Good-bye Little Bit." Rose handed Charlie back to Pete and wiped her eyes again.

"Rose, it's time to go." The boy had moved to stand beside her again. He spoke softly, as if afraid of her reaction. "Are you ready?"

Rose walked over to Mickey, who had remained still and silent since he'd walked through her bedroom door.

"Mickey," He looked up as she touched his arm. "Will you drive us?"

"Yeah."

The drive to where the TARDIS would be once she and the boy crossed through the void was mostly done in silence. The child had fallen asleep in the back, his adventure finally exhausting him. Rose sat beside a very stoic Mickey. His only signs of distress were the rhythmic pulsing of his jaw muscle and the death grip he had on the steering wheel.

Rose fingered the framed photograph in her hand, tracing the loving faces with one fingertip. Her mum had all but thrown the picture at her as she'd walked out the door, saying it was the only one of them all together. It had been taken at the hospital right after Charlie was born. The newborn lay nestled against Jackie, despite the obvious exhaustion, was glowing with happiness. Pete, Mickey, and Rose all stood around them, wearing similar expressions of love and awe. It was a good memory, one of a few from the past year. Rose looked over at her best friend, reluctant to upset him, but desperate to hear his voice. "Good times yeah?" She asked, referring to the photo in her hands.

"Yeah," Mickey answered roughly, "good times."

He parked the car in an ally and activated the emergency brake. "This where the kid said the TARDIS was?"

Rose looked up and down the little street before answering. "Yeah," She replied. "And what do you know, the blue bin is on this side too. Who woulda guessed?"

Mickey didn't comment. "How much time have we got left?"

She looked down at her wristwatch, "about five minutes."

That telltale jaw muscle twitched again. "Better wake the kid then." He stepped out of the car and closed the door a little too roughly to maintain his unfeeling façade.

"Mickey!" Rose called after she had slammed her own door. "Look at me. Please don't end it like this." Her eyes filled again. "Please! I am so sick of crying. I feel like I've been doing it for months."

Mickey couldn't stand to see her tears. He hurried around the car to enfold her into his arms. "I was trying not to cry too," he admitted against her hair, his own voice cracking under the strain of too much emotion. "Someone had to be strong."

"I love you, Mickey," she breathed heavily against his chest. "You're my best friend and I hate that I have to say goodbye to you again."

"I love you too." He wiped her tears away with his thumbs. "But you've only had eyes for him since the start, the Doctor and Rose. I'm just a third wheel, the sidekick, the tin dog. You don't need me anymore.

Rose smiled despite the pain; he'd always been so much more than that. "I didn't want to hurt you, Mick."

"I know. You can't help who you love." He let out a bitter laugh. "I guess I'd know that better than anybody, yeah?

"You are amazing, Mickey Smith." She smiled up at him through glassy eyes, before reaching up to kiss his dusky cheek. "You deserve the best."

He smiled back, a slight blush belaying the feigned bravado. "Yeah well, of course I do, but since you're leaving in a couple minutes I'll have to make due with second."

Rose returned his smile and hugged him even tighter. They broke apart when they heard the back door on the car slam shut.

"Why didn't you wake me?" The boy's hair was all mussed from sleeping and he had marks on his face from the seat cushion. He was holding a duffel bag in each hand. "I could have been pulled back without you!"

"Don't worry little man." Rose reassured him as she took one of the bags and placed the framed hospital picture inside. "We've got about five minutes to go."

"All right then." He took her free hand in his and intertwined their fingers. "From now until then I don't let go, no matter what."

Rose looked up at Mickey. "You don't have to stay, you know. You don't have to watch us go."

"Yes I do, Rose," he replied. "I can't let you go without having done everything I could to keep you safe. Your mum would skin me alive." Rose laughed though her tears. "Besides, I want a few more minutes with you."

"Okay, Mickey."

"You," he sternly addressed the boy, "take really good care of Rose. She's The Best, you hear. You may be out of my reach but the Doctor'll hurt you for me if anything happens to her."

"You're not kidding." The boy looked nervous for a second. "Why do you think I'm stuck to her like glue?" He looked down at his watch. "About one minute, Rose."

Rose looked frantically at Mickey's tear streaked face. He wrapped his arms around her, almost squishing the kid. "I take it all back. If you want to stay I'm here for you."

"You know I have to go. Give my love to Mum and Dad and Charlie. Don't let him forget me."

"Never," Mickey's voice was just as strained as hers.

"And be happy Mickey, promise me," she pleaded. "Find someone to love you properly."

"I'll try."

"You've got to let go of him now, Rose!" The boy pulled at her hand with surprising strength.

Mickey stumbled back as he released the woman he'd loved for seemingly forever. His eyes never wavered from her as she slowly faded from sight.

"Goodbye Rose."


	6. Going Home

Chapter 6

Going Home

"Goodbye Rose."

Rose heard Mickey's last words to her as the world faded. For a moment she felt nothing at all, no light, no dark, no warmth, and no cold. There was no up or down, no left nor right. Then everything came crashing back in a deafening rush.

She doubled over once the ground was solid against her feet again, certain she was going to be sick all over the sidewalk. Every inch of her skin was pulsing back and forth from hot to cold and she couldn't stop shivering.

"We'll feel better in just a second," the boy reassured her through chattering teeth. "It felt like this the last time."

"You could have warned me," she chided, trying her hardest not to vomit as she collapsed to the ground and rolled over onto her back.

"'Fraid you wouldn't come," he slurred from his place on the ground beside her.

"M'stronger than that." she assured him.

Rose closed her eyes and took quick shallow breaths. Her day's worth of crying wasn't helping the situation any. Her stomach felt like it had been beaten with a stick. She sang a soothing song in her head to distract herself as the symptoms slowly abated.

"There," the boy said though a sigh of obvious relief. "You feel better now too?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Just give me a second." Rose slowly stood and looked around to get her bearings.

The big blue bin was exactly where it had been before, with one vital difference. A police public call box was parked beside it, a glorious blue beacon of hope. Rose steeled herself against more tears. She was done crying. She was almost home.

The boy pulled the traveling device out of his pocket and held it up. The once brilliant red marble was now black and cracked like smoky quartz. "Guess that's it then," he said, palming the device. "No more Trans-dimensional trips for us. "He looked up at Rose. "You ready to get going."

Picking up her bags, Rose started towards the TARDIS, the confidence in her stride unflinching, "absolutely."

It was a homecoming. Everything from the creak of the ancient wooden doors, to the low hum of the TARDIS herself, was as familiar to Rose as breathing. The warmth that surrounded her as she ventured into the room was a severe contrast to the bitter chill outside and for the first time in what seemed like forever, that warmth seeped into her very soul. Rose placed her things in a dark corner before turning to take in her surroundings. It looked exactly as she remembered, the same otherworldly pillars, the same rickety bench bolted to the floor. She might as well have left the Doctor yesterday. The breath Rose hadn't been aware of holding caught in her throat as she turned around. Draped over the place where two of the organic pillars intersected was a length of brown fabric, worn from use and heartbreakingly familiar. She reached out to touch it with shaking hands and scrunched handfuls of the material into her fists. The long coat was soft against her face as she breathed in its unique scent, a comforting combination of tea, aftershave, and good clean soap. Underneath the coat Rose spotted a brown suit jacket with blue pinstripes and giggled as one traitorous tear managed to escape and roll down her cheek. "He doesn't change his wardrobe much does he?" She asked in an attempt at lightening the mood.

The boy didn't look fooled. He offered Rose a compassionate smile and cocked his head towards the center console. "What do you say we go find the real thing?" Rose nodded emphatically as she wiped the errant tear off her face.

The boy jumped up to the controls, all exuberance and energy now that he was back in his element. He ran a hand down one of the support struts in the console before flashing Rose an affectionate grin. "She's happy you're back," he said. "She missed you."

Rose joined the child and placed her hand next to his. "Tell her I missed her too."

The boy's grin grew wider as the ship's constant humming went up a notch in pitch. "She knows."

Rose looked down at the child and smiled back, only to purse her lips a moment later in sudden contemplation. His eyes seemed awfully bright all of a sudden, even considering the dim lighting of the TARDIS's interior.

"Hey," she questioned. "What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "I guess you can know now. They glow."

"You're joking?" She'd known he wasn't human, at least not completely, but this caught her a bit off guard. "Really?"

"Yep," he said, puffing up with pride. "It's called bioluminescence. Species that live in the dark sometimes develop it for a number of reasons. On your planet many deep sea animals glow to attract prey. My people used to be cave dwellers, so we evolved to see better in the dark." The boy turned to move further into the shadows. "I have excellent night vision. It's come in handy more than once."

Sure enough, Rose realized as the boy turned to face her, the darker the room was, the brighter his eyes glowed. "How come I didn't notice it in the car?"

"I kept my eyes closed," he answered. "I didn't want you or Mickey to see and that's probably why I fell asleep so easily."

"Must be kind of a problem when you try and blend in," she guessed, still trying to wrap her mind around the concept.

"Yeah," he said. "The Doctor made these special glasses that I wear to block the effect. I forgot them in my room when I went to go find you. I couldn't exactly come back to get them, you know? I had a bit of trouble when the sun went down, that's one of the reasons we almost ran out of time."

Rose frowned. The boy had said he'd been in the other universe for twenty-four hours. How had he avoided being seen?

"Anyway," he said, shuddering slightly. "Enough about my eyes, I'm sure the Doctor can talk to you about them in great detail in just a few minutes. "Well," he amended, "once he gets over the initial shock of seeing you that is."

"How do you know you're not going to make a mistake again and send us back to him over a year after you left?" Rose asked from beside the boy.

"The TARDIS has a recall function." The boy pointed towards a spiral shaped lever. "She can remember where we were last and send us back to about the same time, give or take a few days. I hope." Rose opened her mouth to protest but the boy quickly continued, leaving no room for interruption. "Finding i_you/i_ was much more difficult," he shrugged his shoulders. "I had to guess."

"I suppose it was a good guess considering." Rose replied, ignoring for the moment that he was an amateur.

"Thank you." He stopped minding the controls for a second. "You might want to hold on to something though. This is only my second time driving her all by myself and the last time was a bit bumpy."

Rose grabbed one of the organic looking pillars on the other side of the room and held on for dear life. "You couldn't have given a similar warning before we came through the void?"

"Complain, complain," the boy chided. "You're in one piece, aren't you?"

Rose didn't comment; she just grasped the pillar tighter.

"Okay," the boy turned his attention back to the controls. "Let's get you two back together."

Almost immediately the TARDIS started to buck and shake. Sparks flew from the console in little blasts as the boy ran to different sections, pushing buttons and pulling levers. Rose almost lost her grip as a violent wave of energy smashed into the hull, causing the textured surface of the pillar to scrap at her palms. The shaking grew so intense she could barely see, but her heart jumped into her throat when the boy yelped following another flash of dangerous sparks.

Quickly releasing the pillar once the shaking finally stopped, Rose scanned the room with her eyes, desperate to make sure the little man was okay. She stepped around the coral-like structure to get a better view, only to see him sprawled inelegantly across the grated floor. Before she could run to see if he was all right the double doors crashed open with a loud bang.

Just like that he was there. The Doctor stood right inside the entrance to the TARDIS, breathing heavily as if he had just run a long distance. His trademark pin striped trousers were wrinkled, his white dress shirt coated in a layer of dust, sleeves rolled up to the elbows. His freckled cheeks were pale with worry, his chestnut hair a right mess, as if restless fingers had run through it repeatedly. Then he spotted the boy.

"Tyler!" The Doctor sprinted over to the small limp body and collapsed to his knees. He gathered the little man up in his arms, running the sonic screwdriver up and down and murmuring frantic, unintelligible words. An audible sigh that Rose hoped was one of relief escaped his lips before he leaned over and tapped the child on the cheek none too gently. "You're okay Tyler. Wake up." The boy coughed as if he'd had the wind knocked out of him before opening his eyes and looking up at the Doctor.

"Hey Dad," the boy replied sheepishly. "I got her home without a scratch."


	7. Reunion

Chapter 7

Reunion

"Hey Dad," the boy replied sheepishly. "I got her home without a scratch.

Grasping the boy under his arms, the Doctor hauled them both to their feet. The father towered over the son. "Do you think this is a joke, Tyler?" The Time Lord's pale face was inches from his son's and growing more crimson by the second. "How could you take off on your own like that? How could you i_steal/i_ the TARDIS?" He shook the boy a little in his rage.

"Dad I..."

"How could you go against everything I've ever taught you!?"

"Dad…"

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"Dad I'm sorry, but…"

"Do you even comprehend what you could have done?"

"Dad!" The boy wrenched himself free of his father's death grip.

"What!?" The Doctor stopped his tirade and stood staring at his son. His breaths came in little pants, his jaw muscle twitching in perfect tandem.

"Look!" Tyler gestured to a place behind his father.

Taking a long-suffering sigh, he spun around to confront whatever was so vital his boy would risk angering him further. What he saw leached all the rage induced color from his face. "Tyler," his voice was grave. "What have you done?"

* * *

Rose stood paralyzed in the Doctor's gaze, a million thoughts rushing through her mind all at once. There he was, finally, not ten feet in front of her and all she could do was stare. There was a rushing sound in her ears, blocking out everything else, as if there was an actual storm inside her from the tumult of her emotions.

He had a _son_. In hindsight, it made perfect sense, but that didn't make the news any easier. Rationally, Rose knew that the Doctor had been without her for quite some time, so it made sense that he would have found someone else to love at some point. It had never been her wish for him to be alone. But this was not a rational pain, Rose thought as she absently rubbed her stomach, and all his babies should have been i_hers_/i.

Jealousy changed instantly into a profound sympathy when she realized that since his son had come and gotten her, his mother must no longer be around. She must have been one more person to have left him, one more thing for the Doctor to have lost. But Rose was here, back with her lonely warrior, and suddenly that was all that mattered. "It's me Doctor."

"No," he said, his voice not much more than a whisper. "You're supposed to be with your family."

"I am," she answered.

He moved a fraction closer to her, his leaden feet reluctant to work. "You're supposed to be home."

"I am," she said again.

The Doctor took another step. "You were supposed to have a fantastic life; a normal life, the one adventure I can't have."

"I couldn't." She whispered, her voice choking on the tears that had finally spilled over to run down her cheeks. "I'm not normal anymore. Nothing is fantastic without you."

"I'm so sorry," he said, "I never wanted to hurt you."

Rose let out a little sob and held out her hand. "Then tell me you're glad to see me and make the pain go away."

A few quick steps and suddenly she was in his arms, and he was holding her too tight, and he smelled like dirt instead of tea and aftershave, and his five o'clock shadow was scratching her cheek, but Rose didn't care, because he was here, and he was i_him/i_, and she was finally home.

The Doctor pulled back to see her tear stained face, his own eyes unnaturally bright. Palming her cheeks with both hands, he used his thumbs to wipe away her joyous tears. "Rose?" he asked.

She smiled, remembering how he'd reacted the first time she'd seen him in this form. "Hello."

Stroking her face with his palms he said," I can't believe you're here." His eyes were overly bright; the unshed tears threatening to spill over.

Rose glanced over his shoulder. "You have someone else to thank for that."

Without taking his eyes from hers the Doctor firmly addressed his son. "Tyler, go to your room, now." Little metallic clinking sounds echoed through the room as the boy scrambled to obey without comment.

Rose leaned into the Doctor's touch as he traced her features with his fingertips. His thumb traveled down the bridge of her nose to caress the lips underneath. "You didn't have to be so harsh with him."

He closed his eyes for as second, little creases of strain appearing between them. "I can't even begin to explain the scope of what he's done," he told her. "He's a child, and yet he broke the rules of time and space and risked billions of lives to collect you."

Rose ran her finger down the bridge of his nose, smoothing out the worry lines. "But he's _your_ child, and that explains a lot."

"Yes it does," he agreed, pride and pain warring in his expression, "but that doesn't change the situation. I can't send you back." The sympathy in his voice threatened to rip a new hole in her heart. "Not ever. It's just not possible."

"I guess you're stuck with me then," she replied, flashing him a cheeky grin.

He smiled back, before leaning in to kiss her temple, a feather-light brush against her hair. "I guess I am."

"I'm not leaving you again." She leaned into his embrace, needing his warmth to keep her together, wanting to climb inside him just to be close enough.

"No." he agreed, stroking her hair. His lips trailed down to kiss away her tears.

"Never again." Her arms were clinging to him now, desperate to keep him with her.

"Never," he agreed, before his lips descended again, finally finding purchase against the softness of her mouth.

He was so warm; despite everything she knew about his lower body temperature, his skin was radiating delicious heat. She'd been cold for so long and now all she could feel was his warmth invading every cell in her body. Letting out a little moan, Rose tried to get even closer, granting admission when his tongue stroked against the seam of her lips. She worked her hand underneath the back of his shirt to stroke the smooth skin underneath. He moaned this time and deepened the kiss, burying his hands in the blond strands of her hair. Cradling the weight of her head in his hands, he sucked on her bottom lip, using the weight of his body to support her against the pillar when her knees threatened to give out from under her. She poured all her love and longing into this kiss, trying to banish the loneliness that had pervaded her soul during the past months, trying to show him how much she needed him, and to prove how much he needed her. Rose let out a little cry of protest as he pulled back, her passion replaced by rejection.

"Shh." He palmed her cheek again, quieting her objections. The kiss hadn't left him unaffected, she noticed. Color infused his beloved face and his breath was coming fast. Rose laid a palm against his chest to feel the rapid tango of duel hearts. "We can't do this here," he panted, dropping his hand to take hold of hers. "I don't know how to ask you this, how to even begin. It's been a _very_ long time." his smile was playful, but a little uncertain."

Rose had dreamed of this moment since before she'd ever left this amazing ship. She'd played it in her mind a hundred different times in a hundred different scenarios. Now that it was real, the details didn't matter. She didn't need poetry or moonlight, just him. Rose leaned in to touch her lips to his. The kiss was brief but passionate; an attempt to tell him all that she was feeling without words. "I need you," she breathed.

A wolfish smile changed the Doctor's face from insecure to debonair and he gestured towards the interior door with his free hand. "Follow me?"

Rose mirrored his playful expression and laughed. "Anywhere."


	8. Revelations

Chapter 8

Revelations

"Anywhere," she'd said, and the Doctor had taken her literally. And then he'd _taken_ her, literally.

Rose sighed in contentment as she rolled over on the massive bed, marveling once again at how soft the powder blue sheets were against her bare skin. She made a mental note to ask the Doctor what they were made of. When a twinge of pain interrupted her squirming, she stopping to lie back against the pillows for a moment. Rose cracked a self-satisfied smile; it had been a long time since she'd hurt in all the right places. She took a moment to absorb her surroundings. He'd moved his living space to a completely different part of the TARDIS than where it had been when she'd lived here before. This new bedroom was massive, at least twice the length of the one he'd used before, back when he'd slept across the hall from her. It had the same organic pillars snaking up from floor to ceiling as the console room. Four of these beautiful structures acted as the posts to the huge bed in the center. There was stuff everywhere; little bits of alien worlds covering every horizontal surface in the semi-controlled clutter. Rose couldn't even begin to say what most of the things were. The room fit its owner though, unconfined and indefinable.

Looking up at the Doctor's face, Rose smiled at the innocent sight. It was amazing really, how even toughest, most capable men still looked like little boys while sleeping. He even snored a bit, sweet little breathy sounds that were more endearing than disturbing.

Rose reached up to smooth away an errant lock of his hair and marveled at how less than hour of sleep had almost completely erased the dark circles from under his eyes. Rose knew i_she_/i couldn't recharge quite so quickly. The trouble was, Rose admitted to herself, that she just couldn't sleep. Too much had happened in the past twenty-four hours, the emotional roller coaster leaving her spent, but shaken. She'd gone from depression to anxiety, from anxiety to sorrow, from sorrow to hope, from hope back to anxiety and then to passion and finally satisfaction. It was just a little too much for this human to take in stride. She kept half-expecting to wake up in her bed back in the mansion with her mum and dad down the hall. Any second now Charlie would start wailing and disturb the whole household. As much as she missed them, loosing the Doctor now would devastate her.

He was so beautiful, laying here, all the worry gone from his face in his repose. Rose laid her head down on that amazing hollow between shoulder and chest, that had obviously been created for just this purpose, and listened to his hearts beat.

"What are you doing awake?" her newfound pillow suddenly asked, his voice still rough with sleep. Wiggling a bit, the Doctor brought his arm around to rest against her back so he could stroke her hair.

"Can't sleep," she replied. "Didn't mean to wake you up."

'Naw," he assured her. "Time Lords don't need as much sleep as you apes." It was an homage to his former self and she laughed a little at the reference. "What can I do to help?"

Rose kissed the skin under her cheek before replying. "I'm not sure," she answered, drawing imaginary circles across his chest. "What helps you sleep?"

"I don't need any help," he said, holding her close. "I'm more content in this moment that I have been for years."

"Tell me why." She demanded playfully, knowing the answering and yet desperate to hear it anyway.

"I have you in my arms" he answered sincerely, "safe and content, at least for the moment, and my son sleeps peacefully down the hall. Although," he added, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him when he wakes up."

"Tell me about him," Rose said quietly. "Tell me about his mother."

The Doctor sighed and moved his hand from her hair to pull the blanket up around her shoulders. "I was wondering how long it would take you to ask me that," he admitted.

"You named him after me." Tears burned at her eyes for the millionth time that day. She just couldn't shut them off.

"Ha!" he scoffed playfully, "A universe full of Tylers and you assume I named him after you."

"Come off it, Doctor." She pinched his side, causing him to jerk. Delighted by his reaction, she pinched him again and again. "Is my Doctor ticklish?"

"Oh, you've asked for it now woman." In an impressive act of strength, he rolled them both over, effectively pinning Rose to the mattress. "Surrender!"

"Never!" she cried, pure joy in her laughter. "I've got you where I want you now."

"Hmm," he said, pretended to consider this. "Then I suppose I should oblige." He leaned in to kiss her, pushing her into the mattress and robbing her of breath. Rose returned the kiss for a few glorious moments, before necessity made her gently push him away

"Humans need air," she reminded him with exaggerated breathlessness.

"Right then," he said, flipping them back over and tucking her head back against his shoulder. "Where were we?"

"You were saying how you named your son after the millions of Tylers you've never met."

"I named him after the best person I know." he said seriously, "My Rose."

She buried her face back against his skin for a moment, overcome with emotion. "Didn't his mother mind?" She asked softly.

The Doctor took a deep breath, his voice grave when he answered her question. "She never knew what I named him, Rose. I never even met her."

Rose popped up from her place against him, pushing his hand away to flop against the bed. "What?"

"It's a long story," he warned her, "are you sure you can stay awake?"

"For this," Rose's voice was incredulous. "Oh I've got time to hear this story."

"Very well," He said, reaching for her shoulders. "You lie down and close your eyes and I'll tell you everything." Rose frowned but obeyed, snuggling in close and resting her palm in the center of his chest where she could feel his hearts beat. "Ready?" he asked.

"Absolutely," she assured him.

"Your eyes aren't closed," he scolded, "Close your eyes or I won't tell you anything."

Rose raised her head a little to look up at him. "How did you…never mind. It doesn't matter." The Doctor used his palm to gently guide Rose's head back to his chest. He left his hand there to gently stroke her hair again until she reluctantly closed her eyes.

"How long has it been for you?" He asked her gently, "how long since Bad Wolf Bay? "

Rose squeezed him to her, as if anchoring herself before answering. "Almost a year." she replied.

"It's been close to thirty years for me." He paused, as if expecting a negative reaction, but Tyler had already told her this, so Rose just waited for him to continue. "I've had companions since I lost you," he told her. "I traveled with some incredibly brilliant people and some rubbish one's if you really want to know. They all lessened the loneliness for a time, but none of them truly felt like family, not like you. I'd just given my latest companion away at her wedding, the whole ordeal making me wonder about how you had turned out. I wondered if Mickey had ever managed to get you to altar. I wanted to know if you were happy."

"I'm happy now, that's what matters."

"Shh, "he scolded playfully, "_I'm _telling this story."

"All right," she agreed petulantly. "I'm shushing."

"So I was getting myself slightly drunk and a more than a little depressed when I came across an intriguing advertisement in the hotel lobby. It said there was an exclusive zoo ship with rare and interesting specimens coming into orbit later in the day. And then it said invitation only. Now why, I wondered, would anyone advertise an event that was invitation only? I dislike zoos on principal of course, all those sad creatures locked up in little cages, but of course I had to go and see what all the fuss was about.

Armed with my psychic paper I arrived just as the first tour was about to get started. I must say that at first I was rather disappointed. They had dar-eating palinodes, and fire-spitting cantors, all very usual for an intergalactic zoo mind you, nothing to set off any bells. I wandered around on my own for a while, feeling sorry for the animals, but they were being taken care of fairly well so I didn't complain. Then, I saw the door."

"Ooh," Rose said against his chest, "_The Door_. Was it big and menacing?"

"Absolutely," he told her. "And it had one of those rectangular warning signs that read iAuthorized Personal Only Beyond This Point/i" The Doctor clicked his teeth together, emphasizing the 'T.'

"Was it written in red?" She asked, giggling.

"Of course," he said. "Then, my tour group, a very well dressed tour group for visiting a zoo I might add, met up at the door and went through."

"I guess this was the invitation only portion of the place, yeah?"

"Right again, Rose." He squeezed her on the shoulder. "Do you want to tell the rest of this story, because it seems you already know what's going to happen?"

"No," she acquiesced, "carry on."

"So," he started again. "I followed them through the door, pretending I was a missing member of the tour who'd been running late. The psychic paper really comes in handy in those situations don't you know?"

"Grrr," She exclaimed, "just get on with it!"

He gentled her by petting her hair again. "I followed the tour through the door Rose, and this is where the _real_ zoo was."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Rare doesn't even begin to describe these creatures," he answered animatedly, "These were beings most believed to be extinct. I walked up and down the corridors with the group, listening to fantastic stories of how these animals had been acquired. Most transactions were perfectly legal, an egg being bought at auction and so forth. A few of the stories were a little shady and some were downright criminal. People had died to make this zoo, not wanting to part with their beloved pets and being killed for it. I was disgusted and coming up with a brilliant plan to shut them down when we came to the last exhibit."

"Oh my God, Doctor. Don't tell me…"

"It was a baby, Rose." His voice had grown quiet, "trapped behind glass, strapped into a tiny cot, and bathed in ultra violet light."

"His eyes!" she realized.

"Yes," the Doctor agreed gruffly, "his eyes. The ultra violet light allowed the patrons to see him, while still setting off his bioluminescence. I recognized his species before the tour guide ever said a word. Domrandians were cave dwellers, forced underground for millions of years due to the harsh environment of their word's surface. The atmosphere had been damaged somehow, no one really knows what happened for sure, but it created an everlasting winter, incapable of sustaining life. The Domrandians created an entire civilization underground where the planet's core kept the temperature nice and toasty. As a result, they developed those glowing eyes, as well as an impressive amount of psychic ability."

"What happened to them?" She wanted to know.

"What happened to everything Rose?" he sighed. "War, famine, disease, they were all rampant and all just as deadly. I'd heard that a few refugees had made it out alive, but I'd never seen evidence of it before then."

"What did you do?" Rose prompted, although suspecting she knew the answer already.

"Nothing at first," he admitted, surprising her. "I just stood there, staring through the glass feeling the anger at this immense cruelty building up in my chest. They kept him drugged, Rose, so he wouldn't cry, his little eyes glowing, but dilated. They used robotic arms to feed and change him, so that no other living being would ever have to enter the enclosure. Being that touch deprived would drive anyone insane, but it's especially bad for one such as he. Domrandians need physical touch. They aren't just telepathic, they're extremely empathic. They don't just know what you're thinking, they feel what you feel."

"That explains a lot about him." she realized. "He was always holding my hand and knowing exactly what to say."

"Exactly," he agreed stonily, "and without that connection he would have fallen into madness, a feral beast for this zoo's most exclusive exhibit. I couldn't let that happen."

"Of course not," She agreed emphatically. "You wouldn't be the Doctor if you did."

"I wanted to tear everyone apart in that building. I wanted to shatter that glass and carry that poor child away forever, but I couldn't."

"Why?" Rose was baffled, she would have done just that and to hell with the consequences.

"As I mentioned before, he was drugged. I couldn't get him out of there safely before I knew what they were dosing him with. I waited until the tour moved on and then used the sonic screwdriver to scan the wall panel's built in computer. I couldn't find any information on the baby, but I did get the location of the main office. I took the lift up to confront whatever madman had captured him. I found a pathetic little beast of a man," he said. "He reminded me of Henry Van Stanton and his underground collection, all greed and power, but not too bright. It wasn't too difficult to override the system and turn his office into a force cage, effectively turning him into an exhibit. When I finished downloading the files on his computer I contacted the proper authorities. He was still screaming about injustice when they carted him off. The zoo was sold at auction; I hear it has a fairly decent owner now."

Rose smiled at the outcome; a happy ending was always good. "How did you end up with Tyler?" She asked.

"Once the authorities got there the zoo was swarming with police and animal rights agents. I ran down to the enclosure holding the baby and forced open the doors. After disabling the robotic arms I lifted him from the cot and held him close. I wouldn't even let him go as the medics checked him over and neutralized the drugs. He didn't make a sound, Rose. I don't think he knew how to cry. I kept projecting soothing thoughts and feelings into him, trying to get him to respond but he just laid there, staring up at me with those fantastic eyes. The officer in charge approached me and took my statement. I told him what I'd discovered from the files. He'd been taken from his mother minutes after birth. She'd then been murdered for her silence, along with the rest of the baby's family. The records showed no next of kin."

"So he was all alone then," Rose observed.

"Yes," the Doctor confirmed, "not a soul in the universe who would miss him. I'd just told the commanding officer as much."

"What did he say?" Rose asked

"He looked up and me and said, 'I suppose I should call Child Services then,' but his frown was so profoundly disturbing it have me chills.

'Won't they find him a good home?' I asked him. He told me that the orphanages were overcrowded from the war, and that this little guy would probably fair better if some kind person felt led to take him. I knew where he was going with that."

"So you said yes," Rose exclaimed, "and just like that he was yours."

"Not quite," he corrected her. "I said no at first. I protested that my life was not suitable for a baby. I said I couldn't possibly take care of him. But when the officer frowned and moved to take him away, I just couldn't let the baby go. He'd lost everything, and no one else in the entire universe would know how that feels. No one else would be able to empathize with him, to give him what he needed. I felt an unbreakable psychic link click into place with that revelation, and at that moment he became my son.

'I guess I'm keeping him then,' I told the officer. The man smiled smugly at me, as if he'd somehow known I would change my mind, and said. 'He'll need a name then won't he?' And that, as they say, was that."

"Tyler," Rose announced jovially, "a right and proper name!"

"Yes," the Doctor agreed, "brave, and strong, and true. There should be more of you in the universe." he said, tapping her on the nose.

"Can there be?" Rose asked hesitantly.

"What?" the Doctor asked, as if he hadn't heard her quite right.

"I mean," Rose clarified. "I know you're an alien and all, but you seem to have all the right parts for the job. "she lifted the sheet off him and pretended to inspect said parts.

"Oi," he exclaimed, grabbing her to reverse their positions once again. "I think I proved just a little bit ago that my 'parts' work just fine. Do you need another demonstration?"

Rose looked up into his beautiful brown eyes. "If you put it that way," she said, wiggling her hips a bit, "I'll never be convinced." Her expression turned serious. "But really Doctor, is it possible?"

"You mean," he said, understanding. "Can we have a baby together?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

"I honestly don't know," told her cautiously. "Sometimes it happens, but it's really rare."

"But it is possible?" she prompted him, hope shining out through her eyes.

"Yes," he confirmed. "It's possible, but it's more likely that the genes just aren't compatible. I'm sorry."

"But that can happen to anyone," she protested. "I had friends when mum and I lived in the Powell Estates that tried to have a baby but couldn't, and they were both human."

"Tell you what Rose," he said, looking down into her eyes and stroking her cheek. "When the time comes, if we prove to be fruitless, I'll find you a child. There are thousands of kids like Tyler in the universe, millions. I'll fill this ship with babies if that's what you want," he frowned as if reconsidering. "Well maybe we won't i_fill/i_ her with babies; she's a pretty big ship."

Rose felt the tears collecting in her eyes once again. Her feelings for this man just couldn't stay contained any longer. "I love you," she said, looking up into his eyes, "So very much."

The Doctor let one of his own tears spill over and Rose thought she'd never seen anything more beautiful. "I love you, Rose Tyler, and I've waited almost thirty years to tell you so." The Doctor sniffled and wiped at his face, trying to regain composure. "Okay, story's over, its time for all good little humans to go to sleep."

Rose let the Doctor rearrange them into a more comfortable position and tuck the blankets in. "Somehow I can't picture you changing nappies." she teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oi," he exclaimed, in feigned offence, "S'not the first time I've been a dad you know, it's just like riding a bike; you never forget."

"I suppose not," she conceded, not wanting to bring up those painful memories just yet. The Doctor began to caress her hair again. "I'm afraid to go to sleep." Rose admitted.

The Doctor continued his ministrations, beginning to massage little circles into her scalp. "What are you afraid of?"

She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes, embarrassed by her childish anxieties. "I'm afraid you won't be here when I wake up."

"Oh Rose," the Doctor exclaimed, gathering her body into his arms. "Come here." She wrapped her arms around him and breathed deeply, memorizing. If he was gone in the morning, she wanted to remember every detail. "I promise," he gently said against her hair, "that I will be here when you wake up. And I'll be here the next day, and the next day, and the next. You'll never be rid of me." Rose finally let go then, opening the dam that had held her together for so long. Deep sobs wracked her body and the Doctor just held her close, rubbing her back and whispering sweet nonsense. When the sobs abated and she started to quiet down he said. "I'm going to help you sleep, all right?"

"All right," she agreed.

He ran his fingers through her hair one more time, settling his fingertips at her temple. Rose was overcome with a rush of profound love and comfort. She felt warm, and secure, and safe, and then she felt no more.

* * *

Rose was wrenched from pleasant dreams by a loud incessant buzzing. Her eyes felt gritty from tears and sleep, and she was exhausted.

"Doctor?" She asked groggily, reaching across the bed to feel only blankets. "Doctor!"

"Shh, Rose." She felt him take her hand. "I'm here. It's just the intercom I had installed for Tyler. He needs me for something, all right?"

"Okay," Rose took a moment to admire him wearing nothing but a pair of boxer-briefs before rolling back over to continue sleeping. She kept an ear tuned to the conversation across the room though, just in case.

"Calm down, Tyler," the Doctor said firmly, but gently. "What's wrong?"

Tyler's voice came through loud and clear, unlike any intercom Rose was familiar with. "Dad," he said. "There's something in the TARDIS."

Rose sat up in bed, holding the sheet around her and looked towards the Doctor, concern in her eyes.

"Tyler," the Doctor soothed, waving a hand at Rose to imply that nothing was wrong. "You know that's impossible. We both would have felt its presence as soon as it arrived, not to mention the TARDIS would have alerted us."

"It fooled us somehow, Dad." The boy was close to hyperventilating. "I don't know where it came from. Maybe it's from the ruins on this planet, or maybe I accidentally brought it back with me from the void, but all I feel is hate_._ I don't know what it wants, but it hates. I'm so scared."


	9. Just Like Old Times

Chapter 9

Just Like Old Times

"I'm so scared."

The Doctor snapped to attention the second the words were spoken, his entire countenance changing instantly from unconcerned to on guard. "Tyler I want you to try to pinpoint its location," he instructed, while liberating his trousers out from under the bed and hastily pulling them on. "Concentrate really hard and remember it isn't _you_ feeling this. Distance yourself from the emotions. Can you do that for me?"

There was silence for a few agonizing heartbeats before Tyler's disembodied voice came back through the intercom. "I'll try," he answered shakily," but there's so much of it. It feels like hate is emanating from every corner of the ship."

"I'm coming Tyler," the Doctor assured his son as he frantically searched the room for more clothing. He located his shirt from under one the throw pillows Rose had tossed onto the floor just a few hours earlier. He pulled it on, choosing to not waste time with the buttons and spotted one blue trainer underneath his desk chair in the corner. He hopped a little as he pulled it on, not bothering with socks, and threw one more instruction at his son. "Stay put," he warned, "we don't know what's causing this yet."

"I know Dad," the boy replied, "Rule number one: don't wander off."

"Right," the Doctor muttered under his breath as he searched for the other trainer. "Like anyone ever pays attention to that one." He glanced around the room again, "and where's my bloody shoe!"

"Looking for this?" A voice suddenly said from directly behind him. He turned to find a fully dressed, albeit wrinkled, Rose Tyler holding the missing trainer.

"And Rose comes to my rescue," he exclaimed, moving to pull it on. "It's just like old times, isn't it?" He stopped momentarily to glance up at her. "I don't know how I did so long without you." Not waiting for her response, the Doctor leapt from his place in front of her and started collecting items from around the room and shoving them into a small bag.

"Are you sure there's something in the TARDIS?" Rose asked, taking the bag from him as he put on his glasses to inspect a large board with wires running through it. "I thought nothing could get in here, ever."

The Doctor checked to make sure the sonic screwdriver was in his trouser pocket before turning to address her concerns. His fearless expression contradicted the true feelings coursing though him. "Anything's possible Rose," He told her. "When you and Tyler arrived on this planet I hadn't seen him for over a week. The rest of the archaeological team had already left the planet and I'd refused to go with them." Rose glared at him incredulously, she'd had no idea he'd had to wait that long. "I was consumed with worry for my son. I thought I might never see him again, or the TARDIS, or anything resembling a civilized world ever again. I might have been stuck on that moon forever, alone. I was so focused on getting to Tyler when I ran into the TARDIS, and so shocked to see you, that I might not have noticed something sneaking in behind me. Besides," he added, turning to locate the last object he might need, "That boy might only be only fifteen years old, but he's the most powerful empath I've ever met. If he says there's something hateful on this ship, I believe him."

"Fifteen!" Rose exclaimed incredulously, shifting the bag to her shoulder. "There's no way that boy is over twelve years old, and that's being generous."

"With a life span of over four hundred years, his people age much slower than humans. Emotionally and physically he's equivalent to about a ten year old child from Earth." The Doctor took a fortifying breath before restlessly running his fingers though his already disheveled hair. "He's a child, Rose," he said gravely. "He's my son and he's scared of something I can't feel with him."

"He's going to be fine." Rose said confidently, moving to touch his arm. "You're the Doctor and I'm Rose Tyler and together," she smiled, "we're unstoppable."

The Doctor's answering grin was pure joy in spite of the situation. He laid his palm against her cheek and leaned in for a brief kiss. "I love you."

Rose smiled back. "Quite right too," she replied, reaching out to take his hand. Then, fingers entwined, they ran down the corridor.


	10. Great Minds

Chapter 10

Great Minds

They ran down the corridor, stopping before a large wooden door with the words "Tyler's Room" stenciled on it in green paint. Rose would have laughed at the normalcy of it if the situation hadn't been so grave. The first thing she noticed when she and the Doctor entered was the faint purple glow illuminating the chamber. The effect grew brighter the further they walked into the room. Tyler was huddled in a corner next to the rumpled bed, wearing green plaid pajamas and clutching a cricket bat for dear life. The purple light flashed on and off every time he blinked.

"I'm here, Tyler," the Doctor assured as he ran to embrace his son. The boy fell into his arms easily, the makeshift weapon clattering to the floor. After a quick squeeze the Doctor pulled back to look his son in the eye. "Could you tell where the emotions are coming from?" he asked, flinching when the intense purple light met his pupils.

"I can't pinpoint it," he said nervously as the Doctor reached over to the bureau to retrieve a pair of clear-glassed, wire-rimmed spectacles. He switched on a lamp before settling the glasses on his son's nose. The purple light was immediately replaced by the dim glow of the lamp.

"Its all right Tyler," the Doctor said soothingly as he smoothed the earpieces into place. "Can you tell me anything, anything at all?"

The boy frowned in deep concentration and Rose found it hard to believe that father and son didn't share any DNA. They wore identical expressions on similar bespectacled faces. Even their freckles matched. Perhaps their psychic link had something to do with the resemblance, or maybe it was just an amazing coincidence.

Tears formed in the child's eyes, threatening to spill over. He shook his head in frustration. "I'm sorry Dad," he answered brokenly, "I just don't know. I'm letting you down."

"Never." The Doctor insisted as he pulled Tyler tightly into his arms again. "You're my son and you could never let me down." He pulled back slightly to point at Rose. "Do you see her?" he asked.

Tyler sniffed before responding. "Yeah."

"You went where I was afraid to go to bring her back to me." He said softly, wiping away his son's tears. "Not only did you bring me Rose, but you came back safe and sound."

"Yeah," Tyler said again. "But I broke the rules."

"Yes you did," the Doctor said chuckling. "And I am _so_ still going to punish you for it. But, as I learned in my youth, there are some rules worth breaking, and you were so brave. I'm ridiculously proud of you."

Tyler smiled before glancing over at Rose again, suddenly noticing her disheveled appearance. Wide eyed, he turned back to his father to note the open shirt and tangled hair. He smirked, all vestiges of fear gone, and said, "You two have fun while I was sleeping?"

The Doctor cuffed his son lightly on the chin. "Don't be cheeky."

Tyler laughed out right. "Yes sir."

"So anyway," Rose interrupted, her face slightly flushed with embarrassment. "How do we find whatever it is that's invaded the TARDIS."

"Only one thing to do," the Doctor replied, leading his son to the bed and having him sit up on the mattress. "Tyler's going to have to show me what to look for." He looked eye to eye with his son. "Are you going to be all right?" Tyler took a fortifying breath before nodding. "That's my brave bo," he praised, settling his hands on either side of Tyler's head. Both father and son closed their eyes.

Rose held her breath. This was something she couldn't share, couldn't understand. She felt blind and deaf in a situation that screamed for her to take action. "What do you see Doctor?" Rose asked when the waiting proved to be too much.

"Hate." he said simply. "Whatever it is, Tyler had it right. It hates."

"But what is it?" Rose couldn't fight hate, there had to be something tangible projecting the emotion.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, drawing Roses' curiosity. "Hmm," he said.

"What?" She asked hopefully, "What did you find?"

The Doctor dropped his hands from Tyler. The boy blinked a few times before staring up at his father. "That's why I couldn't find it." Tyler stated incredulously. "There's more than one!"

"Right you are. Tyler," the Doctor praised, "a lot more." He turned to Rose as his son hopped down from the bed. "I need you to stay here," he said gently, taking hold of both her shoulders.

"Wait!" she protested, "What are you going to do?"

"I," he said, rummaging though the bag he'd had her bring with them, "am going to make my way to the control room. I have to teach the TARDIS how to locate our guests. Then maybe I can find a way to contain them."

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, staring down at the sonic screwdriver the Doctor had just placed in her hand.

"You're going to stay here and protect Tyler," he told her, before moving to rummage through the bag again.

"Now hold on!" she exclaimed, pulling the bag out of his hands. "You can't just leave me behind, you might need my help."

The Doctor looked up at Rose, all playfulness gone. "He's my son, Rose. I need him safe and he won't be if he says with me."

A ball of fear made its way up from Rose's stomach to lodge at the base of her throat. "What aren't you telling me?"

He grabbed Rose's arm to gently pull her out into the hallway. "Tyler's empathy is off the charts." He stated quietly, not wanting the boy to overhear. "He is extremely intuitive in normal situations, but this is not your average alien and Tyler's not fully trained."

"And?" she questioned impatiently.

"When I went inside his mind I was able to sort through the empathy to the telepathy underneath. He's not only picking up what these creatures are feeling, he's getting what they're thinking. He just can't hear it over all the hate he's being bombarded with."

"So, what are they?" she asked.

"Whatever destroyed the civilization on this world is still here."

"How is that possible," she asked, "Tyler said the technology you found pre-dates the Time Lords."

"It does," he agreed. "Whatever physical forms these creatures had is gone now, replaced by pure emotional energy. They laid in wait for millions of years just waiting for some unsuspecting species to pop in and discover the ruins on this moon. And after all this time they're hungry. The only way they can grow powerful enough to leave this place is to absorb energy, lots and lots of energy."

Rose thought about this for a moment. "But the TARDIS isn't loosing power," she said, "We wouldn't even know anything was wrong if Tyler hadn't warned us."

"Ah," he said rubbing a hand down the console beside her. "You're right, this old girl's got a lot of power, but it's not the right kind. These beings feed on _life_ energy."

"But you said the archaeologists left, they weren't devoured by these Famished Phantoms. Why is it that they've suddenly appeared?"

"Famished Phantoms, eh?" The Doctor smiled and rubbed his chin. "You come up with that just now?"

Rose proudly smiled back at him, "yeah."

"It's quite good really," he praised.

She blushed a little. "Thanks."

"So anyway," the Doctor said, popping back onto the subject at hand. "The archaeologists didn't get "_devoured"_ as you put it, because there was an even bigger prize to be had. Why eat a whole bunch of snacks when a nine-hundred year old Time Lord is around for you to feast on?"

Rose pondered this for a moment. "But why not just eat all of you?" she asked, "Wouldn't that have made them even stronger?"

"Right you are, Rose," he replied. "But a whole bunch of scientists dropping dead for no apparent reason would have caused suspicion and alarm. They couldn't risk me leaving until they were ready to suck up my energy. They just weren't expecting our empathic genius in there to pick up on them so soon."

"So," she asked, "what are they waiting for?"

"I think," he said, growing more animated, "that they are only powerful enough to absorb life energy when they all combine together. Right now we have numerous little phantoms all over the ship. That's why Tyler couldn't pinpoint their location. But they're moving, joining together to make fewer, but bigger entities. When they all group into one we're in big trouble."

"So you're going to be bait?" Rose didn't like the sound of this.

"I have to keep them away from Tyler. I'm betting they'll follow me to the control room where I can trap them, but they may decide that a child with four hundred years ahead of him is easier prey and go that route. I need you to protect him, keep him out of sight. They won't want you, so you should be able to stay out of their way."

Rose smiled sadly, reality dawning again. "So for once my tiny little human life span is coming in handy, yeah?"

The Doctor pulled her into his arms for a moment, as if to convey that he'd never let her go, regardless of how impossible that was. "I will love you until the end of time," he assured her, his voice thick with emotion, "and I will hold you until the end of yours."

Rose pulled back, ready to fight anything now. "Okay," she said, holding up the sonic screwdriver, "Show me what I have to do."


	11. Baiting The Trap

Chapter 11  
Baiting the Trap

"What do I have to do?" She'd asked four hours ago, while the adrenaline was still pumping in her blood and the Doctor's smile was still turning her rational mind to jelly.

"Guard my son." he'd said, making it sound like such a noble act, making it sound brave and dangerous and exciting. "Here's what you do in a worst case scenario," he'd instructed, showing her what setting to put the sonic screwdriver on, being very specific on how to hold it, and which buttons to push. He'd hugged his son, told him to be brave and to listen to her at all cost. He'd kissed her goodbye, passionately, like a soldier going off to war. And then, he'd stashed them in a cupboard.

It wasn't that she was claustrophobic or anything. In fact, if Rose was being honest with herself, she had to admit that this was really more of a storage "room," than a storage "cupboard." No, the problem wasn't the size of the room, or even the fact that her lover and supposed partner had left her to save the day all by himself. It wasn't the dusty air, the even dustier box she was using as a seat, or even the incessant clanging the tiny vent in the ceiling made as the rotary blades behind it pushed in asthmatic puffs of air. No, Rose thought as she leaned against the metallic wall behind her. The real problem was the cheeky little (sort-of) ten-year-old sitting on the box across from her, who hadn't stopped smirking since they'd gotten in here.

"What?" she finally demanded, leaning forward and throwing her hands up in aggravation. "What is so funny?"

Tyler's smirk turned into a fit of uncontrollable giggles and then into full blow guffaws as he held his stomach and almost tumbled off his cardboard perch. "I'm sorry," he managed to get out between great gulps of air. "It's just the look on your face." he pointed at her rudely, "when I asked if you'd had fun with Dad." The admission set him into an even stronger fit and this time he did fall off the box, right onto his backside with a decidedly loud thump.

Rose couldn't help laughing then. The joy bubbled up from her stomach and just exploded out of her mouth in great gasps. She fell to her knees in front of Tyler and held her stomach, panting for breath. "You look pretty funny yourself just now," she breathed, happiness running off her in waves. It had been so long since she'd laughed just for the sake of laughing.

Tyler's giggles settled down a bit as he scooted himself back up against his box to look at Rose. "You make each other so happy," he said, grinning from ear to ear. "I love it."

Rose sat down in front of him and crossed her legs. "You can feel it, can't you?" she asked, suddenly in awe of this amazing child. "You go around all the time, just feeling everyone else's emotions. Doesn't it drive you mad?"

Tyler didn't answer right away, he just leaned forward to take one of her hands in his and close his eyes. "It didn't used to be so strong," he finally answered, a look of sublime peace falling over his charming features. "It was just a light inkling in the back of my mind, telling me if this person or that person was happy, or sad, or angry. The feelings surrounded me and fed a part of my soul I wasn't even consciously aware of, but I knew they weren't my emotions."

"And now?" Rose asked him softly.

"And now," He looked up at her, his large bespectacled eyes full of wonder, "now I feel everything. I know you're kind of worried about fitting into this new family you didn't expect to have to fit into. You're not sure if you're supposed to me my mum, or my step-mum, or just my friend. You're really mad that Dad left you here while he went off to trap those emo ghosts by himself, and you're a little worried about him getting hurt now that you've finally got him back. And I know these things because I feel them too, as if they were my feelings, not yours. I have to keep reminding myself where I start and everyone else stops. So yeah, "he chuckled mirthlessly. "I guess I am going a little bit mad."

Rose pulled her hand back, feeling slightly violated and more than a little concerned. "Is there anything we can do?"

Tyler relaxed little and leaned back up against the box. "Dad's been trying to teach me to block most of it, like how you filter out the white noise in a room and only hear what you want to hear. And he can put up psychic walls in his own mind, so unless he lets his guard down, I can't get in even if I wanted to."

"Then how do you know how happy I make him?" Rose asked him tentatively.

"Oh Rose," He said, once again sounding years older than he actually was. "He's projecting his love for you so loudly it's practically echoing in here. And besides," he added, flashing that cheeky grin that reminded her so much of his father. "Your clothes were all rumpled." He started chuckling again. "You two didn't waste any time did you?"

Rose placed her hands over her face to hide the quickly deepening blush. "Oh God," she moaned. "You act so adult for a while and then I forget how young you actually are." Tyler just sat there giggling, his beautiful little face once again child-like. "You're not supposed to talk about such things," she scolded, grimacing when she realized how prudish that sounded. "He's your father!"

"Yeah," He laughed, "What do you think father and son talk about?"

Rose let her jaw drop in a surprised gasp. "No!"

"We see a pretty girl on the street, he makes a comment, I laugh…?"

"Oh my God!" Rose was laughing so hard tears were running down her cheeks. "There is no way you're telling the truth."

Tyler sobered up enough to answer. "He's not human Rose," he said mischievously, "but he is a man, and I'm fifteen years old."

Rose smacked him lightly on the arm, "He said that emotionally and physically you were closer to ten!"

"It's not an exact science," he insisted, sounding absurdly offended.

Rose took deep breaths to quiet her laughter and moved back against the box she'd once been sitting on. Her backside had begun to go numb and she shifted to try and get the blood to circulate better. When she looked up her companion was staring at her intently.

"Tyler," she asked cautiously, "How do you feel about me being here." He looked startled at this so she quickly clarified. "I know you went back for me, but now that I'm actually here, taking up so much of your father's time and attention, how does that make you feel?"

The boy flashed his father's smile again, once more morphing into the adult he'd once be. "As I said before," he answered, "he's a man, and now he has his woman back. That makes him deliriously happy." Rose couldn't help the grin this answer caused. Tyler returned it and continued. "It makes you happy too Rose, and as I explained before, that makes me happy, literally."

"So I guess everyone's happy then." Rose replied.

"It would seem so." Tyler looked down at his wristwatch and sighed. They'd been stuck in this closet for hours. "Just one thing," he said, catching Rose's attention when she'd started to zone out. "When am I getting a baby brother?"

* * *

"Yes!" The Doctor whooped in triumph as the electrical board he'd installed into the  
TARDIS's main console finally buzzed to life. He raced over to the display screen and punched in the correct codes to bring up what he needed to see. "All right then," he exclaimed, lightly stroking the gears. "Now we're in business." A second later a map of the ship's interior popped up on the screen, complete with little blinking dots to indicate where all the life forms were. The Doctor heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the pink and green indicators in the center of the map; they hadn't wandered off, for once.

He'd placed them in that storage room for a reason. It was in the center of the TARDIS and had a single door and no windows, perfect for hiding a ridiculously psychic little boy and an overly brave human woman. The walls of the TARDIS helped to dampen thought projection and he hoped this would mask his family well enough to keep the phantoms at bay. Now, if the Doctor could just integrate this new hardware into the ship's main consciousness, he'd be able to track those as well.

"Brilliant!" He exclaimed when a few little gray blips appeared on screen. They were headed this way, just like he'd anticipated. "Just keep moving away from them," he warned the screen, "keep walking into my trap." He hurried around the other side of the console, checking and rechecking the energy field he'd installed just a few hours ago. One voice command to the TARDIS and that emotional baggage would be trapped until he could figure out a way to disperse them.

Impatient to have this over with he walked back around to the screen, staring at the two brightly colored spots in the center. The green dot was his son. It blinked steadily in perfect tandem with the boy's heartbeat, telling him that Rose was doing a good job of keeping him calm.

_Rose_, she was that beautiful pink human dot next to Tyler's, blinking just a little more quickly than its companion. The Doctor frowned, running a forefinger down the screen, wishing he could really touch her. Human hearts beat so much faster than most other species. He fancied it was a warning to other races of how short a time they had to live. The Doctor rubbed his face with both hands and rested against the controls for a moment. By all that anyone ever held holy, how was he going to stand loosing her again? He didn't know if he could watch her die, no matter how old she was, no matter if it was her time. The universe would not be safe the day that Rose Tyler ran out of heartbeats.

Lost in his premature grief, the Doctor almost missed the unblinking gray forms change direction. There were only three large entities now, all moving towards the center of the ship. He frantically hit a few buttons, verifying what he already knew. In less than five minutes those things were going to combine to form a terrible foe and they were headed straight for his family.

* * *

Rose Tyler collapsed on the ground in yet another fit of giggles after performing a spectacular imitation of the Sycorax in their latest game of charades. Tyler sat a few feet away, once again perched on his brown storage box, lost in his own mirth. Rose wiped the tears from her eyes and sat up, groaning when her abused stomach muscles protested the movement. "Maybe we should try to be a bit quieter," she suggested, rolling onto the balls of her feet to stand up. "We're supposed to be hiding."

"Naw," The boy disagreed, moving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Those things don't have ears, remember. They only pick up life energy and these walls are insulated against that. The only way they're going to "hear" us is if we were to perform some great psychic feat or something."

Rose paused and turned to face the boy, apprehension slamming into her in bold waves. "You mean like when you held my hand and told me everything I was feeling?"

Tyler's eyes grew round. "Yeah," he admitted slowly, "just like that."

Rose didn't waste time scolding him and grabbed his hand to make for the door. "We have to get out of here," she told him. "We need to find the Doctor."

"It's too late," he whispered, pulling away from her and backing into the corner. "They're here. Oh Rose," he panted. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay Tyler," she soothed, moving closer but not yet touching him. "I need you to focus, all right, just like the Doctor said? Can you do that?"

Tyler nodded, his alien eyes glued to the door. Rose bent down to his level. "I need to know exactly where they are Tyler. Tell me where they are."

The boy started to shake, his breaths coming in quick little gasps. He pointed towards the door, his little arm shaking so hard he had to support it with the other hand. "Don't you see them?" he asked brokenly. "Rose!" he cried when she started for the door. He grabbed her hand, pulling her back against him. "We have to find a way out."

The denial on the tip of Rose's tongue tumbled out of her mouth in a startled gasp when Tyler's hand made contact with her's. Suddenly the cupboard was half filled with a gray smoke, pouring in from the gaps around the door. "Move!" she cried, shoving Tyler towards a stack of boxes in the back of the room and prompting him to climb. "Don't look back!"

Tyler started to leave her, but hesitated half way up the pile. "You have to come with me," he insisted, reaching down to grab her shoulder. "You can't see them without me touching you."

"Oh, I'm coming too; don't you worry." she said, turning him around and boosting him up onto a higher box. "Now shift!" Tyler obeyed this time, stopping only when he reached the ceiling and looped his fingers in the vent grate. Rose pointed the sonic screwdriver at it, stopping the rotary blade and loosening the screws. She started to climb up after him, but only made it about two thirds up when a portion of the tower collapsed out from under her feet.

"Rose!" Tyler's terrified cry followed her down to where her head smacked against the wall in a sickening crack. The sonic screwdriver skidded across the floor and shattered into a dozen pieces. She lay there, crumpled on the floor in a daze. The room spun and faded in and out, but the pain was surreal, as if the memory of pain and not the real thing. "Rose!" she heard again, the sound barely penetrating the fog that had invaded her mind. "Please get up."

It would be so easy to just go to sleep, she thought, to just close her eyes and go to sleep. But there was something she was supposed to do, wasn't there? Someone was counting on her. "Rose," she heard again. "Rose, wake up!"

_Tyler_, those phantoms were there for Tyler and she had to get up. Rose struggled against the fog, fighting to open her eyes. She sucked in a ragged breath when the dim light hit her pupils and then used all her strength to heft herself up into a sitting position. The pain in her head was real now, throbbing intensely in hyperactive waves. Leaning weakly against the wall she surveyed the room. It was empty; Rose couldn't see the smoke by herself.

"Tyler," she called out, wincing as she moved her head to gaze up at him. His portion of boxes had remained intact and he still sat near the open grate in the ceiling. "Where's the ghost?"

The boy let out a quick sob. "It's all around us, Rose. I don't know what to do." He pushed his palms against the sides of his head." There is so much hate. Why does it hate us?"

_You have everything. We have nothing._

Rose jerked back abruptly as a multitude of voices screamed in her mind, sending shock waves of pain through her entire body. "Who are you?" She demanded, struggling to hold back the tears at all cost. "What do you want?" She had to find a way to stall for time. The Doctor would come. He always came.  
_  
We are the destroyers, the scourge of the land, the bringers of death. We conquer worlds and stomp whole galaxies beneath our feet. We were trapped here, but now we have a way to continue, a way to be gods again. _

Rose screamed in agony and shook violently as her battle against the tears was lost. "I'm not going to let you harm this child," she told them bravely, not having a clue how to accomplish this, but determined just the same. She screamed again as the cacophony of malevolent voices laughed in her mind.

_Fool_, it scoffed. _That boy glows in the darkness. But there is someone else who shines like the sun. Why would we settle for a meal when we can have a feast? _

They wanted the Doctor, just like he'd said, but then why had they come here? "Are we just bait then?" she asked weakly, her limited strength draining away. "Are you setting a trap for the Doctor?"

The laughter was harsher this time, pummeling her, but Rose didn't have the power to move with the pain. Hot tears poured from her eyes and dripped off her chin, hitting the floor below her. _ Silly child_, the voices screamed, _foolish, foolish girl. We will not have to fight the Time Lord for what we need. The gift of immortality lies before us, a goddess masquerading as mortal._

"I don't understand," she whispered as the darkness fell behind her eyes. She never heard their terrifying reply.

_We've come for you. _


	12. Sacrifices

_A/N: I am so sorry that this has taken two weeks to get out to you all. To be honest I had two projects and a midterm due this week, as well as the fact that my car died, so I was relying on everyone else to cart me around. These two things compounded to make me have a lot less time to do what I wanted, like writing this chapter._

_Note, the entities are somtimes refered to as being plural, and sometimes singular. I did this on purpose because the characters would have trouble deciding which they were. And I'm sorry the font turned out to be so small. I didn't get to choose that._

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**Sacrifices**

_We've come for you._

Tyler's frantic crawl through the ventilation shaft halted abruptly when he heard the phantoms' unbelievable reply scream though his mind.

"No!" he panted, "No!" Tyler's breaths came in terrified little gasps as he debated what to do. He'd thought that the entities would follow him. He'd planned to lead them straight to his father, ensuring both his safety and that of Rose.

Oh God. What if she was dying? He'd gone too far, done too much to bring her back to loose her now. Tyler hung his head in shame. All his life he'd heard heroic stories about his namesake, only to be a little disappointed by the real thing. She wasn't a superhero; she was a woman, with all the fears and anxieties that came with it. But now he could see what his father always had. She was human; vulnerable, and completely mortal. It was because of this that her bravery was so impressive. She gave of herself completely and didn't look back despite the consequences. He'd only known her less than forty-eight hours and she was down there dying for him; willing to give up everything, even the chance to live with his father, just to give him a chance to get away.

His dad had never told him much about his birth mother, only that she'd been killed immediately after giving birth to him. He'd always pictured Rose in that role, the three of them, traveling through time and space; a family. Tyler dug his fingers into the grate beneath him, feeling the metal bite into his hands. There was no way he was giving up that dream when it was so close to coming true. He wasn't sure why they were after Rose, but if those things wanted his mum they were just going to have to stand in line!

* * *

The Doctor ran. He ran like the hounds of hell were nipping at the heels of his trainers, and then he ran faster. Adrenaline poured like hot lava through his blood, burning a path through the vigorously pumping arms and legs, threatening to cripple him. Twin hearts galloped in desperation, pushing his binary bypass system into overdrive in order to keep supplying oxygen to the starving cells. Rhythmic sounds of rubber smacking metal echoed through the otherwise eerily silent ship as the Doctor competed in the marathon of his life. Second place was not an option. If only he had more time. 

_Time._ The one thing he was supposed to be able to control and it was forever falling through his fingers like water in a drought. He hadn't felt this helpless in so long; not since losing Gallifrey, not since losing Rose. His entire world and all his people had been destroyed in an instant, leaving guilt and emptiness in their wake. Rose had been salvation; one brave young girl who's very smile could banish the demons for a time. He'd watched her mature, beautiful girl into beautiful woman. He'd tried to resist her, tried to tell himself that he should be a father figure, just a friend, never loving too much. But Rose had infiltrated his hearts with all the skill of Chula warrior to the point where he would listen to her promise him forever without complaint. She'd been sunlight to his darkened soul. And then she was gone, and he'd lost his entire world again.

The truly ironic part of it all was that he'd been prepared to let her go. He'd placed one of his hearts around her neck with that device when he'd tricked her into going away to Pete's world without him. It had hurt like hell but at least he'd known she'd be safe; away from the Daleks, away from the Cybermen. Plus there had been some consolation in the fact that he wouldn't have to watch her grow old, watch her die. But she wouldn't have it. No, not his Rose, she'd come right back and told him straight out that she wasn't leaving him; not ever. She'd wanted to give up everything, her mum, Mickey, a place to call home, and for what? A broken Time Lord? A false promise of forever with a man who couldn't grow old with her?

In the end, it hadn't been her choice. Once again he'd been helpless, screaming her name in terror as the void sucked her towards hell. He felt that same panic now, as he raced through the corridors, almost upon the spiral staircase that led to the middle level. This time there would be no Pete Tyler to pop in and save the day. No, as usual it was up to him to save the universe, because not only was _his_ family in jeopardy, but the families of everyone else alive would be at stake if those phantoms made it out of the TARDIS. God help the universe if they figured out how to control the ship.

No! That wasn't going to happen, not now, not ever. He'd saved the universe too many times for it not to owe him one and he was cashing in the favor now. This was going to be one of those days where everybody lived, even if he wasn't included in that tally.

* * *

Tyler crawled painfully back through the grated air vents, his flannel pajamas catching on the metal with every other movement. Just a littler further and he'd be there. He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do, but if he could just distract the phantoms long enough, it might give his dad time to show up. He hadn't been able to sense Rose for a few minutes now and that fact alone terrified him. Even if she were sleeping he should be able to pick up a basic emotional reading. She'd hit that wall so hard after her fall that he'd felt the pain radiating through his own skull, a phenomenon he'd never encountered before. The pain was gone now, replaced by an aching dread in the pit of his stomach. Who knew what those things were doing to her? He wouldn't be able to face The Doctor if he let her die, not after seeing how completely happy she made him. 

He could see a strange flickering coming from the opening at the end of the shaft, like shadows in a candlelit room. The voices were silent now, replaced by a psychic white noise that permeated the cupboard and drowned out any other sound that might be present. Tyler slid towards the entrance and peered into the darkness below; his glasses preventing his effervescent eyes from giving away his location. The gray smoke had grown thick and black as if an inferno blazed directly beneath it. Tyler rubbed at his stinging eyes, trying to convince himself that it was only his imagination, for surely ghosts could not contaminate the room's oxygen. He could just make out a pink and blue figure in the far corner of the closet. _Rose_. Her T-shirt and blue jeans were just and rumpled as when she and his father had come to comfort him in his room earlier. She wasn't moving. Tyler shoved a hand between his teeth to stifle a horrified gasp when he realized that the smoke had claimed her. The ghosts were invading her body, forcing themselves through her eyes and mouth, exiting through her pores before starting the process over again. Her skin was pale and fading fast. Tyler shuddered as he felt hot tears spill over his cheeks to splash onto the hand he still held clenched in his teeth. He was too late. He'd been too slow.

Moving back to lean against the cold wall of the shaft Tyler ripped off his glasses and squeezed his eyes shut. Silent sobs wracked the small frame and he rocked back and forth. He never should have brought her here. The Doctor was right; one should never mess with time and space. It was all his fault, all his fault, all his fault….

Wait! A loud clanging penetrated Tyler's despair. It rang through the room, causing the grate below his knees to vibrate in its intensity. Tyler reached out a telepathic hand and smiled thorough the tears as hope bubbled up inside. Everything was going to be okay. His dad was here.

* * *

"Stupid door!" The Doctor screamed between bouts of slamming his makeshift battering ram into the closet. "Stupid ship let me in!" The fire extinguisher was made from Titanium alloys and had been conveniently stored in an alcove directly beside the storage room he'd stashed Tyler and Rose in. The entities must have sealed the entrance somehow. Once discovering the door to be locked from the inside, he'd grabbed the device and in a brilliant flash of ingenuity, froze the handle to make it more brittle. Only this was a Time Lord ship, and it wasn't that easy to break into. 

He continued to plead with the TARDIS in desperation. "My family is in there, our family," a resounding bag resonated each time the device hit the handle, "Tyler and Rose," Bang. "Are in trouble," Bang, Bang. "My life is in this room!" The handle fell off and clattered to the floor but the door remained shut. Dropping his tool the Doctor reared back to gather his thoughts. Breathing heavily and scratching panicked fingers through his already messy hair, the Doctor frantically searched his surroundings for another option, another way in. If only he still had the sonic screwdriver!

Screwdriver! What about one that wasn't sonic? The doctor spun around to rifle through the emergency alcove where he'd found the extinguisher. "Ha!" he cried upon finding exactly what he needed. Locating the tiny screws on the exterior of the device the Doctor carefully inserted the philips head and began to extract them. The gun was filled with glacialan, and was designed to expel the gas from its nozzle. However, the interior should be filled with the substance's pure form, a liquid so cold it could eat through just about anything. He just had to make sure all the volatile substance got on the door before the air turned it into gas and it froze him to death. Easing the protecting covering off he located the safety lock marked with a distinctive warning to go no further. Ignoring the sound advice he started dismantling the interior section. Holding the last barrier in place between himself and a deep freeze, the Doctor carefully stood to take aim.

The glacialan hissed as it flew through the air, creating a fine mist before attacking the door. The metal barrier cracked and crystallized, but failed to fall. Spotting a support bean directly overhead the Doctor leapt up to clasp it in both hands letting his feet hang about a foot off the floor. Pumping his legs like a child on a playground the Doctor swung higher and higher, back and forth. He gritted his teeth against the chafing in his hands and grunted in exertion as he poured all his strength and desperation into building up enough momentum. Then, letting out a resounding battle cry, the Doctor hurled himself forward.

* * *

Tyler hid in the shadows, putting up every mental barrier he'd ever been taught to create and making sure the light beam from his eyes didn't make it out of the air duct. What was taking his dad so long? 

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a hideous crash resonated through the room, somehow loud enough to be heard over the psychic tempest pervading the small space. He searched frantically through the fog only to see his father crumpled on the floor surrounded by needlelike pieces of the demolished closet door.

"Get up!" he whispered frantically despite knowing he couldn't be heard. "Please get up!"

The Doctor pushed himself to his feet, brushing pieces of debris off his sleeves; his face flushed with rage and righteous determination. He screamed something Tyler couldn't make out and pointed towards the crumpled form of Rose in the corner. Every gesture he made called for action, every expression demanded obedience. Tyler felt his eyelids grow wide; this was the Oncoming Storm in all his glory.

Tyler mentally danced for joy. Everything was going to be okay. Nothing could beat the Doctor, the Last Time Lord. His joyous smile faded before reversing completely into a terrified frown. The smoke rushed out of Rose, causing her limp body to buck and convulse with the trauma. It gathered in the center of the room, swirling together in a small tornado. The entity was strong enough to manipulate matter now, swirling the air around in violent gusts that smacked debris from one wall to the other. The hate in it penetrated through Tyler's shields, terrifying him in its intensity. The Doctor just stood his ground, hair swirling, clothes flapping, and faced his enemy head on. Tyler didn't think things could get any worse, until the smoke formed a face and screamed.

* * *

The Doctor's whole body smacked painfully against the wall as he was shoved back from the mental push. Regaining his balance he firmly addressed the entity again. "Where is my son?" 

The phantom's ghostly body shifted in and out of solid form. Its face was a hideous composition of features, like a reflection in a shattered mirror. Its fractured eyes glowed red in the psychic darkness. _We want nothing of the moonchild_, it screamed into his head, forcing the Doctor to manufacture some pretty impressive psychic shields. _His is of no consequence._

Storing that tiny bit of relief away in his mind the Doctor forced himself to look over at Rose. She was so pale and still he had to grit his teeth to keep from crying out. Oh God, was that blood on the wall? "What have you done to Rose", he demanded to know? And how had they become powerful enough to project a body in such a short amount of time, and without Tyler?

_She gives us life, and we drink it thirstily. _

"She is just a human; she doesn't have that much life to give. Now tell me what you've been doing!"

_Fool! _It screamed, the crimson light from its eyes growing in intensity. _Your people were so arrogant. You believed yourselves to be gods and it proved to be your downfall. How fitting that your goddess's destruction will restore us to power. Your infantile species had barely begun to crawl while we were creating empires._

Fear bubbled up in the Doctor's throat but he managed to swallow it back down. "She is not a goddess, and she can't feed you if she's dead. She can't take much more of this."

_How pathetic that you do not even know your own woman._

"What do you mean?" He glanced back over to Rose, willing her to show some kind of life, a breath, a twitch, anything.

_A Time Lord holds the very fabric of Time in his hands and he cannot even recognize it when it shares his bed? There is enough life in that woman to bring back our entire army._

The Doctor stared at the creature in astonishment, reality dawning in painful clarity. Was it possible? Could Rose have been carrying dormant traces of the time vortex in her body all this time? It had never even occurred to him to check. He'd been so sure he'd taken it all into himself, and then after the regeneration the possibility of any consequences had never crossed his mind again. How could he have been so careless? His lack of foresight might cost Rose her life, and as of right now, he didn't have a plan.

"Take me instead." The words were out of his mouth even before he realized he was going to say them.

_You cannot entice us away from our prize. She is the key to our sentient immortality._

The Doctor thought fast, inching his way back towards the corner where Rose was crumpled on the floor. "Despite what you say she can't have much left in her," he said, exuding rationality when all he felt was raw panic. "But a Time Lord has the power of the ages in his blood. And unlike Rose, we know how to use it." The entity turned its gaze to follow his movements, but didn't come any closer. "You could have the benefit of that experience soaking up into your consciousness as you absorb me." The entity paused, as if to consider this proposal. It didn't comment as the Doctor knelt down beside Rose. He moved a hand to caress her cheek and stifled a gasp. She was so cold.

_You would trade yourself for her? Why should we accept when we can have you both?_

"Because I'd be willing," he replied, brushing silky blond strands away from her neck to feel her carotid artery. "There are things inside my mind that cannot be accessed through force." The Doctor manufactured a crack in his mental shield and willed the bastards to take the bait, once they made contact he'd be able to rip their consciousness apart. The Doctor pulled his attention back to Rose. Relief poured through him like cold rain. Her pulse was weak and thready, but definitely there.

The phantom moved closer, its feet gliding in the floor in strange contrasting shadows. _We accept your proposal Time Lord. But once we drain you dry we will finish off your woman._ The doctor screamed in agony as one giant hand forced its way though his skull to engulf his mind in ice. Internalizing the pain he started the arduous process of reversing the pull. Just a little more, he thought inside the last shielded corner of his brain. Just a little…

The pain stopped abruptly causing the Doctor to stumble back and land in a heap on the floor. His eyes flew open wide in terror when he discovered what had interrupted the signal.

"No!"

* * *

Tyler felt all but crushed under the onslaught of violent emotion and terrible energy. He stood in the middle of the floor, arms outstretched, and was burning massive amounts of psychic energy to keep the entity at bay. The black smoke once again swirled in a macabre dance around its master; illuminated only by the purple glow of Tyler's nocturnal eyes. His father moved to stop him, only forcing Tyler to erect a barrier around both him and Rose. He wasn't quite sure where the power was coming from, but it certainly seemed to be there when he called for it. 

"Tyler don't do this," his father cried from behind the mental force shield. "You haven't been trained for this, you're going to burn."

Tyler had known that was a possibility going into this, but he couldn't have lived with any other decision. He'd sat there in the ceiling, watching his father touching Rose's cheek, seeing his face nearly crumble in relief in the knowledge that she was still alive. His father's love and willingness to sacrifice himself had been such a strong emotion it had penetrated the hate pervading the room. It was beautiful, and sacred, and he couldn't just sit there and let it die.

The entity howled losing form as it spent more and more time away from its power source. If he could just hold it long enough it should dissipate completely, or would it? The entities might go back to their original form but there was nothing to kill them off completely. Unfortunately there was no way to rethink his decision to intervene now. Standing his ground, he addressed his father. "I have to do this Dad." he stated with much more confidence than he was feeling. "You two deserve to be together. Your love is so beautiful, it cuts through the hate."

"We need you too Tyler." His father's voice had grown rough. "I can't loose you."

"Take care of Rose." Tyler replied, ignoring his father's plea. The pressure was getting too great to sustain and Tyler fell to his knees, but didn't let up on the force shields he was sustaining.

"Tyler!" The Doctor was all but screaming now. "Stop this right now. We'll cut through the hate together. Just you and I, like always."

Tyler shook his head painfully, not risking a reply. Just then, a spark of inspiration ignited in amazing clarity. What was it love did? Could that possibly be the answer?

The Doctor beat against the impenetrable barrier his son had erected in front of him, both desperate to rescue him and in awe of his abilities. This boy's power was unprecedented, and it was going to kill him. He let the tears fall in rivulets down his cheeks as he watched his child sacrifice himself for him. He wasn't worth it.

The wind picked up in the room again, spurred by the entities' rage and growing desperation. He could barely make out his son, kneeling on the floor, arms stretched out above him like man in supplication, purple light illuminating the hideous creature disintegrating before their eyes.

The Doctor ran to Rose, the one person left that he could protect and laid his body down atop hers. The large pieces of debris were bouncing off of Tyler's barrier, but any second now it could collapse. Gathering her into his arms he realized she was still freezing cold and he wrapped himself more tightly around her body. Placing a hand under her skull the Doctor was startled to feel the sticky wound that must have caused the bloodstain he'd seen on the wall when he'd first come in. The discovery hollowed out a section of his soul. He could quite possibly lose them both tonight. He could be alone again.

* * *

Tyler felt like his skull was splitting in two. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. The key to defeating these creatures was love, it had to be since they were made entirely of hate. Pure love, unconditional love, that's what he needed, something these things couldn't possibly understand. The problem was, that in order for him to channel that love into the phantoms he was going to have to drop his shield, both the internal ones keeping him sane, and the external ones keeping his family safe and the enemy contained. If he didn't do it soon it would be too late. He was growing so weak. Tyler glanced over at his father lying prone over Rose, protecting her with his very self. It was so beautiful, and perfect for what he needed. Channeling those impressive emotions into himself, Tyler prepared for the fight of his life. After that there was no more thinking.

* * *

The Doctor screamed as all hell broke loose and the entity attempted to crawl back into his mind; if the barriers were down that meant that Tyler was either gone or too weak to continue. It was up to him now. Holding Rose close for reassurance he fortified his internal psychic shields and reached out with his mind. What he felt blew him away. 

Love. Beautiful, unadulterated, innocent love. It permeated every inch of the room and beyond. Opening his eyes he looked up to see his incredible son, still kneeling on the floor, wearing a look of unsurpassed bliss over his tiny freckled face. The smoke thinned, dissipated, and then dissolved completely. The quiet in the room was a shocking as the clamor had been.

The Doctor was on his feet in an instant and in an impressive burst of speed, reached his son just in time catch him in his arms as he collapsed. Gently lowering Tyler to the floor he placed his fingertips at the boy's temple scanning his mind for any psychic burnout. Incredibly there was none, only an intense, all encompassing exhaustion. Tyler's whole body shook with fatigue as he stared up as his father. The Doctor reached down to wipe away his son's tears. "You scared me to death." he gently scolded, pride and relief warring, with unmitigated rage.

"Sorry," the boy managed through chattering teeth. "Couldn't let anybody hurt you or mum?"

The Doctor's eyes burned with his son's reply, he hadn't realized he'd felt that way about Rose. He supposed he couldn't stop Tyler from trying to be a hero. After all, he _was_ his son. "Discuss the plan with me next time okay?"

Tyler broke into a weak smile, "You too."

The Doctor let out a quiet laugh, "Deal." Sparing a moment to send his son firmly to sleep, he then raced over the still form of Rose Tyler. He had absolutely no idea how to deal with her condition. What could the Time Vortex be doing to her? And how could he have not known?

Kneeling by her side he once again smoothed a hand across her delicate cheek. "Rose." he called out gently. "Rose, sweetheart it's time to wake up." She didn't reply and he grew increasingly concerned. He had to get her to the infirmary. Reaching under her neck to gently lift her by the shoulders he accidentally jostled her head, causing it to fall sideways across his bare forearm. The hairs there didn't stir.

Dread filled every cell of the Doctor's body as he laid her back down to feel for a pulse. It wasn't there. "No!" he cried, leaning forward to gently force his breath into her lungs. She'd been alive just a few moments ago. He'd felt her breathing as he'd held her in his arms. "Don't do this to me," he cried out, beginning the compressions on her chest. He couldn't loose her, not this soon, not when he had begun to rely on her presence again. "Wake up Rose!" he commanded before giving her two more of his breaths. "Wake up!" Desperation filled him to the brim, causing the tears to spill over once more. He'd been empty for years and now he couldn't shut them off. "Please Rose." he cried, pushing on her chest again, willing life back into her unresponsive body. "Come back to me."


	13. A Moment in Time

_A/N: Ah, chapter 13, at last! You just can imagine how hard this one was to write. I got really really really sick and ended up in the emergency room. Then I had finals and term papers and everything else to catch up on. Then, I was afflicted with a horrible case of writers block. Anyway, enough of my pity party, I'm fine now, writers block is gone and the semester has ended. Yeah! Doctor and Rose forver! Only one more chapter to go after this one, but you guys have been so wonderfully supportive and have written such gorgeous reviews that I've become addicted. A sequal is being planned in case anyone is interested. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Doctor, or Rose, or anything else. Boo Hoo._

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**A Moment in Time**

"Come back to me."

The words escaped Rose's hearing as she emerged from the fog; a fleeting whisper, like a leaf in the wind. She laid there for a moment, just feeling her surroundings, and was comforted by the familiar vibration of the TARDIS under her back. Rose smiled in contentment. She was warm, and she was home.

Perhaps it was time to get up and start the day. The Doctor would be tinkering with the console, pulling out wires and checking gauges. His brown coat and suit jacket would be draped over a pillar, his shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows, the sonic screwdriver clenched between his teeth. She'd watch him for a time, sitting on that worn old bench, handing him tools periodically, and chatting about where they'd go once he finished his task. She'd grow bored of his antics after a time it was a bit like watching Mickey fix a car after all, only slightly more complicated. She'd try to entice him away, encourage him to go for a swim, or have a cup of tea. He'd give in eventually, complaining the whole while that he had work to do, and she'd just inform her _Time Lord_, that he had plenty of _time_ for that later. Where would they go today she wondered? Maybe they should go see her mum. It had been, how long? Rose wasn't quite sure. The memories seemed fuzzy somehow. Pushing that unpleasant thought aside Rose decided she wanted to visit someplace beautiful; she didn't want anything to mar this wonderful feeling.

Finally opening her eyes Rose looked around in confusion. This was the console room, and she wasn't in her bed. She glanced down at herself. Instead of polka dot flannel pajamas she was amazed to discover a bright pink jumper and black slacks. Something stirred in the back of her mind; a little ping of fear stabbing at her, like a splinter you know is there but just can't see. Looking from side to side Rose lifted herself up a little. "What happened?" she asked, half afraid to hear the answer.

"Don't you remember?"

Rose gasped when she heard the heartbreakingly familiar northern accent. She sat up in a flash and scooted herself against one of the coral-like pillars in the console room. There he was, just how she remembered; all ears, and nose, and leather jacket. Tears stung her eyes when she realized what her next line was supposed to be. Deciding to play along she answered him, "Its like, there was this singing."

"That's right," he replied with a mad grin, "I sang a song and the Daleks ran away."

_Daleks._ Rose didn't think she'd ever actually understood hate until she'd encountered the mortal enemy of the Time Lords. Worse than any Nazi or terrorist they wiped out whole planets for no other reason than the unshakable believe in their own superiority. Mercy and compassion were unfathomable concepts, as these genetically engineered mutants existed only to destroy. What really made Rose hate them though was not their unspeakable acts of genocide; she'd encountered plenty of conquers in her travels. No, the fact that really made her hate the Dalek hoard was that they scared _him_, the bravest man she'd ever met, _would_ ever meet, and they had the power make the Doctor tremble in his plimsoles. And he didn't just fear them; Rose had never seen the Doctor hate something until the day he'd held that huge gun in his hands and gone crazy with blood lust over killing that single metal drone in Van Staton's museum. He'd grown angry and petty and taunting, things he'd always fought against, and his mercy had been nonexistent. She hadn't understood his abhorrence then, but she did now. She'd lost the Doctor because of them, twice. Wait, how many times? There was the game station, the time she was reliving now, but what was the other one?

Torchwood! Suddenly the last two years came flooding back into Rose's memory, forcing out the fog and replacing it with crystal clarity. Rose's newfound lucidity was instantly accompanied by dread however. Where was the real Doctor? And Tyler? And what had happened to her in that storage cupboard?

Rose stood up slowly, uncertain how far to take this reenactment and reluctant to anger this specter before her. "I was home," she said tentatively, "I was on the TARDIS."

The man in the leather jacket smiled at her, his absurdly handsome face lighting up in the process. "Rose Tyler," he said, that beautiful voice filling her ears. "I was going to take you to so many places."

"Stop it!" she cried, putting a hand out in front of her as if in self defense. "This isn't right. Why are you here?"

The man pretending to be her Doctor leaned foreword, running a hand down the left side of the console, and answered her frantic question with another of his own. "Why am I here?" He turned towards her, "Fantastic question. Why are any of us here really? And for that matter, what do you mean by here?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Do you mean this control room, the TARDIS, the universe? You've got to be more specific if you want me to answer. But if you want to know the truth Rose Tyler, you've asked the wrong question."

Rose cocked her head to the side, as if seeing this man from another angle would make his presence more plausible. "Who are you?"

He frowned, the manic grin fading into disappointment as he placed a large palm against his chest. "Now that hurts Rose, after all we've been through together. We may not have made it to Barcelona, but we still had some pretty good times, don't you think?"

"I did go to Barcelona," she contradicted, "and ancient Rome, and pre-revolutionary France, and New Earth, and tons of other places. And you would know that if you were really him." She was breathing heavy now and backing up to partially hide behind one of the organic pillars supporting the control room. For a split second she let herself remember where else on the ship these pillars were, but as much as she'd like to be in the Doctor's bed right now, she was never going to be there again if she couldn't focus. "Why are you doing this?" she cried, but he just he continued to frown at her. His concern was palpable but Rose wouldn't let herself be sucked in by it. "Whoever you work for got it wrong. The Doctor doesn't look like you anymore. He changed."

The imposter moved to walk towards her but stopped abruptly when Rose flinched away. He put his hands up, palms out as if to show her that he meant no harm. "I know I changed Rose," he said firmly, "right here, right now, in a ball of flame." He grinned again, his voice growing light once more. "I did it for you."

Trying to regain the upper hand Rose changed the subject. "I've been here before," she informed him with a forced calm, "I've lived this before, and you can't be real."

He did move towards her then, ignoring her hesitation, and laid a firm hand upon her shoulder to halt her retreat. He slid his other palm across her face to cup the softness of her cheek, letting her feel the familiar pattern of calluses as he stared down at her. "I am real Rose," he said passionately, "in this time and place, I am the Doctor."

Blue eyes met hazel and Rose stared up at them intently, as if trying to assess their owner. They were certainly the Doctor's eyes. Whether they were ocean blue or chocolate brown her Doctor's gaze always held a uniquely poignant combination of deep regret and mischievous joy. A tiny crack of doubt let hope filter into Rose and she leaned her face a little into his touch. "Why am I here?" She asked, her voice a little rough.

"Ahh," he answered, dropping his hand from her face to step back a bit, "That, Rose Tyler, is the right question."

"Then what's the answer?" She all but shouted the words, her patience nearing its end.

"That," he said, moving away to lean against the console, "is complicated, but first things first, tell me how I am now? I don't get to remember anything past this day so satisfy my curiosity a bit before I satisfy yours." His mad grin was back, and he crossed his ankles as he supported himself against the controls in an absurdly nonchalant pose.

Rose walked back around the pillar to approach The Doctor. This might be a hallucination, or some kind of time distortion, but this was certainly her best friend, and one day lover. She had nothing to fear. "I thought you weren't supposed to know too much about your own future." She chided him lightly.

"Doesn't much matter if I'm dying in a few minutes now does it?"

Rose stiffened, "Well when you put it that way…"she let the cliché trial off, "what do you want to know?"

"Fantastic!" he exclaimed rubbing his palms together in glee. "Do I get to be ginger?"

Rose couldn't help but chuckle at that. "No," she said with a half grin, "You're just sort of brown."

The Doctor frowned and crossed his leather clad arms. "Figures," he pouted a little and shifted his weight to lean on one foot, "and I bet, judging from the dreamy, glassy eyed look on your face, that I'm a bit pretty now aren't I?" Rose blushed in spite of the situation and glanced at her feet. He chucked at her reaction. "You always did have a thing for the pretty ones."

"Oi," Rose exclaimed with righteous indignation, "I'm not the only one. What about tree-lady Jabe, and Lynda with a 'Y', and Madame du Pompadour?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at that one, "The Uncrowned Queen of France?"

"Yeah," Rose replied, latent rage lacing her voice. "You just left me and Mickey in this space ship full of clockwork assassins and went swanning of with King Louis's mistress. Then you come back half drunk, your tie tied around your head, and blathering on about banana daiquiris."

"Now I know you're joking Rose," He said, raising a single eyebrow in consternation. "I would never do that!"

"Which part," she asked cheekily, "The beautiful courtesan, or the banana daiquiris."

"Neither," he answered, looking appalled, "The part where I let Rickey in to the TARDIS."

Rose tilted her head back and belted out a laugh worthy of any previous trip with this man. It was just like old times. "He's a good bloke Doctor," she said sobering up a bit. "He's saved us more than once, and he loves me quite a bit more than is healthy."

"Well then," he said sincerely. "He's got good taste, I'll give him that much."

Rose beamed and moved a little closer, just enough to smell his aftershave. I think you liked him quite a bit in the end," she told him frankly, "he proved himself to be a lot braver than we ever gave him credit for."

"That or I get very soft after this regeneration," he grumbled.

"You think that's bad," she taunted him, "You get along a lot better with my mum." Rose continued, enjoying the horrified expression on his angled face. "She even nursed you by your beside while you were sick," Rose frowned, "you gave us all quite a scare."

"Oh well," he shrugged his shoulders, "you're not mourning me so I guess everything worked out all right then," he said turned to play with some switches on the console.

"I did mourn you," she said quietly coming up behind him to lay a hand against his leather clad back. He froze as she continued. "At first I did. I thought I'd lost you, my Doctor. You were so different."

The Doctor didn't move, he just continued to stare at the console. "Different how?" he asked quietly.

"You're lighter," she replied moving around his body to look him in the eye, "It lots of ways. You're a little thinner, a little paler, and a little less sad."

The Doctor's face fell and Rose could see all the sadness she'd just mentioned etched in every line of his features. "I got used to it though," she told him saucily, "you've still got a mad grin."

"What about my ears?" he asked playfully, flicking the lobes with his index fingers, "I think they're my best feature."

She laughed, pushing her tongue a little out the side of her mouth in a gesture that was purely Rose. "They're a bit smaller," she admitted moving to cup his cheek in her palm, "but sometimes I still miss this daft face, no matter how much I love your new one."

The Doctor sobered as if remembering the task at hand. He took her fingers in his and rubbed his thumb gently across the neatly manicured nails. "How much do you remember about this day Rose?" he asked, growing quite serious.

Rose stared down at the pink jacket she was wearing and bit her bottom lip in concentration. "I didn't remember anything at first." She replied after a moment's hesitation. "But over the following months little fragments would come flashing back into my memory." She covered their clasped hands with her other palm and continued. "I remember everyone was going to die and so you sent me away" She pointed a stern finger at him like a scolding parent, "That's a trend with you by the way."

"What?" he placed his free palm against his chest in mock horror, "and you expect me to apologize for that, for trying to protect you?"

Rose smiled up at him, pulling his palm away from the black jumper and clasping it in her own. "No," she agreed, you'd never do that and I'd never ask you to."

"What else do you remember?"

"Almost everything," she admitted, "getting sent home, getting Mum and Mickey to help me break into the heart of the TARDIS, absorbing the Time Vortex. I don't remember any of the forbidden knowledge she gave me, but I remember killing the Daleks, "Rose shuddered and he moved a little closer to lend her his strength. "I remember killing _all_ the Daleks, every last one, well every one present at the time. I turned them all to dust."

"I'm sorry Rose," he pulled her close, tucking her blond head under his chin and squeezing firmly. "You were never meant to know what it feels like to kill."

"I'm not sorry." She said firmly, pulling back to look him firmly in the eye. Her gaze held no remorse. "They threatened my race, my friends, and my Doctor."

"I'm gone now Rose," he said solemnly, "so I'm not afraid to ask this."

"What Doctor." She asked, curious and cautious at the same time.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Resting his forehead against hers he asked, "Do I still love you this much?"

Rose's eyes burned with unshed tears as she struggled to answer his question. "Yeah," she finally replied, "yeah you do. But I don't think it hurts you quite as much as it did."

"Oh Rose," she said sadly, shaking his head against hers. "You are so wrong about that one."

Rose pulled back in dismay, "how do you mean?"

"You asked me a question Rose and I promised to answer it. Ask it again?"

Rose thought for a second before complying. "Why am I here?"

"What's the last thing you remember before waking up here a few moments ago?"

Rose quizzed up her brow. "I was cold," she answered, "and confused, and I was supposed to save someone."

"Anything else." He prompted.

"Pain," she said, growing frightened, "a lot of pain."

"That's right Rose," he agreed, trying to draw her close to him again, "but whatever happened, whoever hurt you it doesn't matter anymore."

"Why?" She asked raggedly, frantically trying to pull away as apprehension grew inside her, "What's going on?"

"You absorbed the Time Vortex Rose and no one's meant to do that, let alone survive it." He released her to gesture frantically with is hands. "I didn't even survive it fully. What you did was unprecedented!"

"What are you trying to say?" she asked, almost shouting in her anxiety.

"You're brilliant Rose," he said grabbing her face in both hands and kissing her square on the forehead, "Absolutely fantastic!" Rose just stared at him in shock. "You placed little clues all through time and space to both warn us of what was coming and to lead you back to me. But while that vortex was swimming through your head you did something else."

Rose was almost too afraid to ask, almost. "What did I do Doctor?"

"You planted me here."

"What?"

"I'm a memory Rose," he answered matter-of-factly, "a little bit of me that you placed in the back of your mind to help you remember."

"Remember what?" She asked, growing more horrified by the second.

"How to live!" he exclaimed moving back to spread his arms wide, "how to come back to me!"

"You're not making sense!"

The Doctor grew serious again, moving close once more to take her hand. "You've stopped breathing Rose," he told her, watching reality dawn on her lovely face. "Your heart's not beating."

"No." She pulled back once again to lean against a pillar, tears forming in her eyes. "That's not true, stop it!"

"It's true Rose, and you've got to remember how to wake up before it's too late."

"I don't know what you mean!" she cried, "If I'm dead I can't wake up."

"Oh yes you can." He insisted, striding towards her with abject determination, "and it's time for you to go now."

"Why?" she asked, terrified of leaving him, terrified of what was beyond this memory.

"Because I'm not really dead," he answered, touching her face and tracing the full lips with his thumb, "and neither are you." Suddenly his whole body began to glow with an ethereal magic light, causing Rose's breath to catch in her throat. Was this how she'd looked that day?

"Yes Rose," he answered, suddenly at one with her mind. "You looked a lot like this," he continued, moving to embrace her, "only you were beautiful." Rose reached her arms around his broad shoulders, pulling his body in close to her's. Then, in a reverse reenactment of their first kiss, he laid his lips gently upon hers, once again taking the burden onto himself, saving her. But this time, instead of the crippling power that was pulled out of her body, life rushed back in.

* * *

_A/N: Ah, I loved Christopher Eccleston's Doctor, so I just had to include him in this story somewhere. I hope I did him justice. Please review if you want the final chapter to come as soon as possible. I just love you guys. bye for now._


	14. Awakening

_A/N: Okay, please don't hate me. I know I said that this would be the last chapter, but I found a great place to stop and needed to go with the flow. The next one will be the last one. 15 chapter is a nice number though. Don't you think._

_Also, I don't own anything. Not even Tyler because he's named after Rose._

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Awakening**

Life rushed back into the Doctor as the body beneath him arched her back and took huge gasping breaths. The air he'd been gently forcing into Rose's lungs caught in his own throat as she bucked beneath him.

"Rose!" he cried desperately, kneeling beside her, his face inches from her's, as he palmed her face in both hands and smoothed back her hair. "Look at me sweetheart, come on."

She coughed a few times, a deep ragged sound as her lungs struggled to fill after having been empty for too long. "Doctor?" she asked roughly, finally turning her head towards him and opening her eyes.

"I'm here," he answered her, his voice sounding just as strained as hers as he continued petting Rose's cheeks. He could feel the warmth slowly returning as her heart raced to force blood back into the starving cells. "I'm here."

"Hello," she answered him with a wan smile, her complexion gradually growing peachy again. "So I'm back then?"

"Yeah," he answered her, his voice catching on the single syllable. "Where did you go Rose?"

She reached up to gently caress his face, running her fingers over the distinct features as if seeing them for the first time. "I took a little walk down memory lane."

The Doctor leaned into her touch, basking in the miracle that was this woman. "And where did it lead you?"

"Back to you," she said, the accompanying grin illuminating her cheeks with enough joy to spill out of her eyes. "All roads lead me back to you."

Overcome, the Doctor hauled Rose into his arms, grasping her to him in desperation as he gently rocked them back and forth. "I thought I'd lost you," he panted, his whole body shaking in unreleased sobs, "I felt you slip away." Rose clutched him more tightly, burying her face against his neck. "I felt you slip away from me."

"Never." She whispered firmly against his skin. "I'm never gonna leave you, never again."

The Doctor just clasped her tighter, breathing in her scent and cupping the back of her head. The blood there had partially dried and the crusty flakes dug into his palm. Pulling back slightly he examined his hand, and despite the gory mess he'd felt earlier it was obvious that no new blood had rubbed off onto his skin. Suddenly The Doctor was all business as he pulled his lover's head forward and slightly to the side to examine the injury.

"Hey," she exclaimed as the world tilted sideways, "whatcha looking at?"

"You hit your head against the wall just behind you Rose," he said, squinting in order to see her wound more clearly. "There's a blood smear marking where you fell."

"Wait," she cautioned, brushing his hand away from her scalp to feel the site for herself. "I think I remember that." Rose felt the area and grimaced at the unmanageable tangle of hair she encountered. Probing gently beneath the mess Rose expected to find a painful chasm of broken and badly bruised skin, but what she found was even more startling. "It doesn't hurt." She exclaimed in disbelief, palpating the area more firmly. "It doesn't feel like it's been cut at all."

"Alright," her lover exclaimed petulantly, pushing her hand away with a flick of his wrist, "why don't you let _The Doctor_ take a look at it?" He pulled her head back down to its former position, ignoring the scowl she threw him from opposite the wound and attempted to see beyond the sticky mass of blond strands and dried blood. "I can't see anything," he whined a little, raising his gaze to glance around the room.

"Where'd you put your glasses?" She asked him, her voice distorted by the unnatural angle his heavy palm kept her in.

The Doctor patted up and down his shirt with his free hand for a moment, scowling when he came no closer to locating his specs and then looked around from his place on the floor. "They've got to be here somewhere?"

Rose rolled her eyes and blindly felt around herself, patting the metal floor until she hit something plastic. "Oh," she said reaching for the object, "I think I found them."

"And Rose Tyler to the rescue," He said playfully, taking the offered glasses and placing them gently on his nose. "Now where were we?" The Doctor examined her wound carefully and grimaced at the amount of blood caked into her hair. "How did you do this?"

"I was trying to get away from the ghosts," she explained, pointing to the toppled boxes in the corner "trying to follow Tyler up into the air vent." Rose took a startled breath and jerked her head sideways, finally seeing the small crumpled figure lying on the floor a few feet away. "Tyler!" she cried, desperately trying to break away from the Doctor, "What happened? I told him to run! He was supposed to be safe!" She looked back at the Doctor, her hazel eyes round with fear. "I don't remember much after I fell."

"Shh Rose," he said soothingly, reaching for her shoulders with both hands, "he's fine." A cheeky grin stretched across his tired face as he spoke to Rose with unhindered pride. "He saved us both, that son of mine." The Doctor shook his head, "It was brilliant, and brave, and completely," he raised his voice a notch, "_completely_ foolish."

Rose laughed a little, once more moving to caress his beloved cheek, "you love him for it though, don't you?"

He kissed her fingers as they roamed over his lips. "I love you both for it."

Rose nodded, pursing her lips in agreement, and then laid her forehead against his chest. The Doctor took advantage of this position and felt around the base of her skull with expert fingers. "I don't understand it." He exclaimed, completely baffled with his diagnosis. "It's completely healed."

Rose brought her head back up to look him in the eye. "What?"

"No bruising, no scaring, no bleeding," he told her, his voice laced in disbelief. "With the amount of blood on the back of your head and on the wall panel over there you shouldn't be able to sit up let alone carry on a conversation with me, and yet here you are perfectly healed." The Doctor's brow wrinkled up in confusion. "This is impossible!"

Rose frowned, trying to take in this new information. "I thought we liked impossible?"

"Oh I like impossible." He agreed wholeheartedly, "I _love_ impossible if it's what's keeping you here with me. I just don't understand it," he pointed at her confidently, "yet."

Rose swayed a little, her face suddenly going a bit pale. "Whoa," the Doctor exclaimed, holding her upright, "What just happened."

She shook her head, placing a palm to her brow, "I just got a little lightheaded, that's all" Rose gave him an encouraging smile. "I'm all right now."

"That's it," he said, hauling them both to their feet. "I'm taking you to the infirmary." Whatever the time vortex had done to her, whatever those ghosts had done, The Doctor needed to get to the bottom of it.

"Really Doctor," Rose protested, laying a palm against his chest. "I feel fine, I just want a shower and I want to go to bed."

"Now, Rose Tyler, is probably not the best time to argue with me." He held up a hand and counted out his woes one finger at a time. "My ship was taken over by emotional demons, my son saved the day with a terrifying display of psychic strength, my sonic screwdriver is in pieces all over the floor, and my love," he cupped her cheeks again, leaning in to barely an inch away and passionately lowered his voice, "my love died in my arms." He took a deep, shuddering breath and closed his eyes, as if suddenly reliving those terrible moments. "Ten minutes ago you were dead Rose."

She laid her forehead against his, bringing her hands up to claps his forearms. "I'm here," she insisted soothingly, "I'm alive."

"You're right," he agreed, pulling back a little to regain his composure. "But you weren't a few minutes ago and I need to know what is happening inside your body." He sighed, moving to take off his glasses and pinch the bridge of his nose. "I need to know what it was the entity really wanted. I need to know that you are alright," he placed a finger over her mouth before she could protest, "and I need you to stay that way."

"I love you," she told him, abandoning all attempts to get out of a medical exam. If he needed this, than so did she.

The Doctor looked down at Rose as she grinned at him in reassurance. She was so beautiful and so trusting; always ready to follow wherever the wind blew him, but too strong to be dominated. She and that little man on the floor next to them were everything, his whole universe. It was an awesome responsibility and for once it didn't feel so heavy. Rose was alive! She was alive, and smiling, and loving him. The Doctor leaned in to embrace her, needing to express everything he was feeling, needing to reaffirm that she was in fact whole, and standing before him.

"Doctor?" Rose asked, leaning her weight against his whole body, letting him enfold her in his embrace.

"Yes Rose?" he rubbed little circles on her back, telling himself they needed to get to the infirmary, but not quite ready to spoil the moment.

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"What?" The Doctor jerked back just in time to catch her as she doubled over, and then watched in horror as his beautiful Rose vomited all over the both of them.


	15. Family

A/N:

_Also, this is again, NOT the last chapter. I wrote myself into a plot hole and it took a long time to dig out of it. So this chapter is kind of slow, and is really just a strange compilation of random thoughts and complicated loose end tying. Hope you like it though. I tell you all that the next chapter is the last one, but since I've lied twice, I will restrain myself. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor who, nuff said._

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**Family**

_All over the both of them… _

The Doctor grimaced at the memory as he quickly made his way to the control room; she'd thrown up all over the both of them! The thought of Rose gagging and heaving the contents of her stomach onto not only his suit and trainers, but all over her clothes as well was not a pleasant one. Judging by the pungent smell, which had suddenly permeated the room, Rose's last meal had consisted mostly of very salty chips and some kind of greasy meat. The chuckle this thought inspired was genuine despite his concern; some things never changed.

Rose's untimely bout of sickness had delayed his plans for her medical examination as neither of them could stomach standing around in vomit covered clothes for very long. His shower had been brief, taken in one of the many spare bedrooms to give Rose some privacy in the bath that adjoined theirs. _Theirs_, the Doctor smiled, warmth enveloping his hearts despite the anxiety lodged there. He never would have thought it possible.

That pleasant thought sparked a rather unpleasant one though and the Doctor glanced down at his left wrist for the fifteenth time as many minutes. There had been no way he was letting Rose out of his sight long enough for her to get cleaned up without some way of monitoring her. Not only had she just up and died on him half an hour ago, but now she was experiencing dizzy spells and vomiting. Rose's injuries may have somehow spontaneously healed, but there was something going on inside her, something bad enough to make her sick, and it had the Doctor very worried. Luckily the infirmary was rather close to the bedrooms and he'd insisted they take a little detour before he'd let her go change. The silver bracelet he'd slapped on her wrist was comfortable and fashionable, but also rather functional. It monitored her vitals and sent a constant signal to its twin. The only difference between the one the Doctor was wearing and the one he'd given to Rose was that his had three tiny indicator lights that would go out if Rose's health began to fail. If there was any negative change in her heart rate, respiration, or blood pressure, he'd know about it. The only problem the Doctor had now was having the will power to _not_ look at the damn thing.

Finally entering the console room the Doctor flipped a couple switches and listened in relief as the TARDIS slowly dematerialized. He was _not_ putting this moon on the list of places to come back to for a nice visit. Well, he amended, remembering the spectacular view of the planet the moon's rocky horizon had inspired, at least not at the _top_ of the list.

The Doctor quickly set the controls to float the TARDIS safely through the time vortex for a while and leaned his blue clad forearms against the controls for a much needed breather. He ran restless fingers though still damp hair as he contemplated his next course of action. He had a son to put to bed, a cupboard to hose down, and a very sick and cranky Rose to heal. This Time Lord had better stop wasting time.

Almost as an afterthought he spotted two duffel bags thrown half-hazardly in a corner and hefted them up into his arms. _Blimey_, he thought, redistributing the unexpected weight to better balance himself, had Jackie stowed away in one of these things? He made a mental note to check later, just in case. Then, taking another glance at his wrist for peace of mind, the Doctor made his way back down the corridor.

* * *

Rose leaned her head against the wall of the shower and sighed as the tile cooled her overheated skin. The most amazing thing about the TARDIS, _besides_ the whole traveling in time and space thing, had to be the fact that the water never ever, even if you let it run all night without stopping (as she'd once done by accident), went cold. Rose held up a hand for close inspection and played with the monitoring bracelet, twisting it round and round. She had no idea how long she'd been standing under the scalding spray, but her skin was starting to grow quite pruney. Rose frowned at the realization that she'd have to get out soon. She'd always found a hot shower to be quite soothing; a type of sensory deprivation where all one could hear was water against tile, and all sight was confined to one small cubical of space. It was the perfect haven for sloughing off the day, taking an emotional step back, or having a proper sob fest where no one could see you. Not that Rose was in danger of breaking down or anything, she just wanted a few more moments under this heavenly warmth, to have just a little bit longer without having to think about _anything_. 

Okay, she admitted to herself, she was currently the definition of procrastinator. Yup, look up coward in the dictionary and you'd see a picture of Rose Tyler, cheeky grin and all, staring back at you from the black and white pages. To be fair though she had a pretty good reason for being craven; Ever since waking up in the Doctor's arms, ever since dying, Rose had begun to piece all the bits of the puzzle together. She had a fair idea what her lover was going to find when he examined her, and even though it was cowardly, the prospect of delaying that confirmation was too tempting not to give in to. It had taken three cycles of rinse and repeat to get all the blood and muck out her hair and the sight of all that red tinged water washing down the drain still gave Rose the chills. Her wound was completely healed though, a fact that puzzled her Doctor, but now that she'd had time to dwell on it, seemed perfectly reasonable to her. The man in her memories had explained it, not in detail mind you, The Doctor, in his previous incarnation had been vague at his most talkative, but she'd gotten the point. Her mum had been right, those many months ago, on that last fateful day before she'd lost the Doctor, seemingly for forever. Rose wasn't quite human anymore.

Scolding herself for being so maudlin Rose shut off the water and jerked the shower curtain aside. Stepping out onto the plush blue mat, she wrapped herself in a huge fluffy towel of the same color and approached the sink. Her hand squeaked obnoxiously across the mirror as she rubbed off a streak of condensate to better see her reflection.

"Oi," she said, flinching slightly, "it's like mum in the morning after a bender." The yellow haired girl staring back at her was pale, _really_ pale, like someone afraid of sunlight and without the means to buy fake tan. The word alabaster might have come to mind if it weren't for the fact that her current complexion made the dark smudges under each eye seem that much darker. Her hair stood out at all angles, wrapped in horrifyingly ridiculous tangles and knots that Rose despaired of ever brushing out. A groan of frustration escaped her lips; she'd left all her things two floors away in the control room yesterday. And since she was in the Doctor's bathroom, beautiful and massive, but hardly female friendly, there wasn't a hairbrush in sight, only a black plastic comb and a large bottle of mousse. "Well," Rose chuckled to herself, that certainly explained why his hair stayed sticking straight up every time he went crazy and messed with it.

Rose was just about to tackle the daunting project of combing her own mad hair when something caught her attention. About an inch of dark brown was showing beneath the expensive hair dye she'd been able to afford with her torchwood salary. And since she'd been so well off, keeping up with the styling hadn't been a problem. Rose's hair had been dyed just three days ago, a fact that should have kept her out of the salon for at least six weeks. Rose touched the delicate strands with shaking fingers and gasped, she hadn't noticed in the shower, but her fingernails had grown too.

* * *

The Doctor grunted slightly as he managed the monumental act of sliding his very limp son into the bed without dropping him on the floor. He was just smoothing the duvet up to the boy's chin when a small hand jerked up and clasped his. Twin purple eyes snapped open in abject fear, suddenly casting the room in their hazy light. 

"Hey," The Doctor soothed, switching on the lamp and pulling up a chair to sit alongside the mattress, "It's just me."

Tyler's breathing calmed as his sleep deprived brain finally took in the familiar surroundings. "Hi Dad," he said with a weak smile, "s'been a long time since you've tucked me in."

The Doctor chuckled slightly and laid a palm against his son's head, smoothing the chestnut hair back in comforting strokes. "It's been a long day," he said lightly, "let me baby you a bit?"

"Okay." Tyler yawned dramatically, his mouth open wide enough for the Doctor to get a quick view of the boy's molars, before settling down and once again closing his eyes. "Love you."

"Love you too Puppy," his father answered, using a nickname he hadn't spoken in years.

Tyler smiled broadly, but kept his eyes firmly shut. "I'm not _that_ tired."

"Yeah," The Doctor replied, an answering grin plastered across his face, "but you're still a cheeky pup." With that he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on the boy's brow. "Sleep tight, no bedbug biting and all that."

Just as he was getting up to go however, Tyler's hand snapped out again and clasped his arm. "Wait." He said, suddenly sounding quite alert. "How's Rose?"

The Doctor quickly reinforced his mental shields as a wave of anxiety rippled though him. He glanced down at the steady lights on his wrist, before settling himself back in the wooden chair. He reclaimed Tyler's hand before formulating an answer. "Rose, he said emphatically, "is going to be fine; right as rain in no time at all, you'll see."

Tyler rolled over with what appeared to be enormous effort and looked his father in the eyes. "Tell me the truth Dad," he said, his voice low and sincere, "Despite my current lack of energy; I'm not a baby anymore."

The Doctor rubbed a palm across his handsome face and pinched the bridge of his nose before leaning forward to address his son's concerns. "Can't you just pretend for a minute and say 'okay Daddy, I trust you unconditionally to know what's best and do what's right.'"

Tyler chuckled, "Did I ever act like that?"

"Not since you've been out of nappies, and even before that it's debatable." They shared a moment of levity before the Doctor continued. "I'll be honest with you son," he said softly, "Something's not quite right with her, and I'm not sure what it is yet." The Doctor waved a hand to shush his son before he could interrupt, "but I will figure it out."

"But,"

The Doctor cut his son off and smiled, remembering a game they hadn't played in a long time. "Who's the best Doctor in the Universe, hmm?"

Tyler giggled, and despite the boy's earlier claims it made him sound quite young. "My Daddy," he answered, squeezing his father's hand, "My Daddy can fix anything."

"Right you are," The Doctor agreed, jumping to his feet in glee, "And now it's time for all good boys, and girls, and monsters, and puppies," Tyler laughed at that, "to go to sleep."

He was just about out of the room when a small voice called him back to attention. "Dad?"

"Yes Tyler," the Doctor's voice was borderline exasperated, "What is it now?" He made his way back to the bed and settled back in the chair. He moved both hands around, palms up in exasperation, "What is sooo important that it can't wait until you've had a few hours sleep?"

Tyler looked up at his father, all vestiges of childhood suddenly missing from his freckled face, "You should marry her."

"Excuse me?" The Doctor could actually feel all the blood leeching from his head.

"Seriously Dad," the boy scolded him lightly, "What is _the_ most important thing in all the universe? What does everybody need?"

"Life," The Doctor suggested.

"Besides that,"

"Three square meals a day."

"No,"

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck and looked towards the ceiling as if in serious contemplation, "A time ship, a trip to Disneyland, a case of vinegar for all those pesky Slitheen invasions?"

"Dad, be serious!"

"Oh," The Doctor announced, holding up a finger as if to point at the lightbulb that his brain had just turned on, "I know, a sonic screwdriver!" Tyler just rolled his eyes. "The one thing that I need in all the universe is shattered all over storage cupboard seven and now I have to make a new one; thank you _very_ much."

"Dad," The Doctor finally sobered when he heard the solemn tone of his son's voice. "You know what the most important thing is. You lived without it for far too long." The Doctor's face fell, all pretenses of levity gone in an instant. "We have each other, but Rose doesn't have anybody, she left her family behind. She loved you enough to do that, love her enough to give her a new one."

"Tyler," his father said softly, "we _are_ her family. She knows that."

The bright eyed boy on the bead took a deep frustrated breath and continued his argument. "Think of it this way Dad," he retorted, "In fifteen years when we land on some planet somewhere and they ask you who she is, are you still going to be calling her your '_companion_,'" The Doctor stroked his chin and blinked a few times, unable to come up with a suitable reply, "or are you going to call her your _'wife_?'

The Doctor leaned in to once again kiss his son on the forehead. "When did you get so wise?"

"Not wise," he said, once again sounding quite sleepy, "just selfish," His father looked up, startled by Tyler's answer. "I want a mum, never had one before. I think Rose will do nicely, don't you?"

The Doctor chuckled, "I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Rose emerged from the bathroom wearing a brown dressing gown so large it almost enveloped her completely. After a quick chuckle at the garment's color she made her way into the room and glanced over at the beautifully pillared bed. The bedclothes were rumpled, just as they'd left them hours ago, and right on top of the sheets were two large travel bags. The smile that stretched her lips was matched only by the warm glow that instantly enveloped Rose's heart. He'd carried them in all the way from the control room! 

Opening the bags and scattering piles of clothing across the bed, Rose assessed her options. She selected a simple pair of gray, drawstring pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, opting for comfort over vanity, before slowly making her way down the corridor towards the infirmary. She had to adjust her trousers a couple times on the way, surprised by the slight pull of the fabric when it used to sit loosely on her hips. Rose dismissed the thought as nothing unusual. Ever since the Tylers had changed drycleaners their clothes haddn't been coming back quite right. Rose shrugged; it wasn't something she had to worry about now.

When she actually thought about though, Rose had never done a whole lot of laundry. Before the novelty of having staff to wait on her, Rose's mum had always done it; a sort of maternal ritual she and Jackie had never quite grown out of. Even after Rose had started living on the TARDIS she's brought her washing home instead of doing it herself, despite the ship's more than adequate facilities. It was a way of keeping her Mum close even when she was billions of miles away; all the love and comfort of family wrapped up in the scent of dryer sheets and detergent. Rose's lips stretched into a sad smile, she was going to have to learn to do that one particular task herself. Maybe she'd have the Doctor land in London so she could pick up the same brands Jackie had always used; keep that one little memory alive. Then Rose could hug her mum every time she pulled a batch of towels out of the dryer.

Rose sighed and passed through the arched doorway, her slippered feet brushing soundlessly along the metal floor. The infirmary was not a room that Rose was unaccustomed with; running for your life on a daily basis did lead to the occasional bump and scratch. The single cot in the center of the room was flanked on one side by a large, complicated panel of electronic machinery, but was comfortable enough when one got used the idea of being in hospital. Rose settled herself down on the forgiving surface, squirming a bit to find a comfortable position, and covered herself with the fleece that she'd pulled from a drawer.

Closing her eyes, Rose was suddenly struck with a powerful wash of fatigue, accentuated by the fact that she'd just spent the better part of an hour relaxing in a hot shower. It wasn't long before the soothing hum of machinery lulled her into a deep sleep.

* * *

The Doctor rounded the corner and entered the infirmary cautiously; scanning the room for occupancy and smiling when he spotted his beloved, sound asleep on the room's single cot. She was curled up, knees bent almost to the chest, hands curled innocently beneath her beautiful chin. It made her seem so very young; not that much older than Tyler really. The thought made the Doctor grimace, especially when accompanied by the memory of their entwined bodies all those hours ago, the Doctor sighed; a lifetime ago. He suddenly felt like a dirty old man. Oh well, he pushed the thought aside for now, bit late for that. 

He gently caressed the curve of one delicate cheekbone with the knuckles of one hand and marveled at the lack of makeup adorning her face. She was so beautiful, despite being a bit pale. Her hair had begun to dry and curled randomly on the pillow. He picked up a strand and worried it between two long fingers. Her pink lips were parted, as if waiting for a kiss, but the Doctor restrained himself, deciding it was better to take advantage of her slumber and get a few tests done. He wrenched his gaze away from the temptation and turned to ready the equipment.

* * *

Rose awoke slowly, stretching lazily as she basked in heavenly comfort. Sometime between now and yesterday she'd finally gotten warm. Her hazel eyes were met by soulful brown ones when she finally opened them. "Hello." She said, grinning madly. The owner of those beautiful brown eyes took her hand and answered back, his returned smile was genuine, but seemed a bit strained. 

"Hello."

"Hmm," Rose sighed in contentment, "did you miss me?"

The Doctor frowned, the sadness reaching all the way into the eyes she'd just been admiring, extinguishing the light from them. "Every time you leave," He answered gruffly.

"I'm sorry," she pleaded, squeezing his hand before running her thumb across the light spattering of freckles, "I didn't think," He glanced at the floor then, as if to regain his composure, so Rose quickly changed the subject. "I like your new suit."

Given the excuse to preen, he stood up from the stool he'd just been occupying and ran a hand down the front of his blue jacket, "It is rather smart isn't it?"

"Always," she replied with a slight giggle, attempting to sit up.

The Doctor placed a palm against each of her shoulders and gently urged her back onto the cushion. "We'll have none of that Rose Tyler," he said firmly, "I'm not quite finished with you yet."

"Well I certainly hope not," she retorted, mock horror displayed across her features.

"Don't be cheeky," The Doctor whined, "Why does everyone have to be cheeky all of a sudden hmm? I can see I'm going to have my hands full with both you _and_ Tyler on board the TARDIS? I should have known what would happen when I named him, shouldn't I?" He placed both palms against his chest, "Forget the Gelth, pity me!"

"Poor baby," Rose cooed, sarcasm oozing from every syllable. "Stop stalling, that's my trick, and tell me what you've been up to while I was having my nap."

The Doctor sat back on the stool, both trainer-clad feet propped up on the middle rung, and rested his chin on one fist. Rose thought he looked absurdly like Rodin's _The Thinker. _"I ran some tests." He said simply, head bouncing with each word as his jaw moved against its supporting fist.

"And?" She prompted him, desperate to know more despite the consequences. The Doctor just frowned, his face once more a study in deep sorrow, or perhaps regret. "Doctor, you're scaring me," her voice rose in pitch as panic threatened, "You look as if I'm dying!"

"You're not." He said so softly she might have missed it.

"What?" Rose wasn't quite sure she'd heard him right.

"Everyone is dying Rose," he answered her, his voice once again dark and serious. "Every species in the universe except for mine ages gradually; even Tyler in his bedroom down the hall. You all have two types of cells. There are those that die every day and get replaced by ones that are a little less strong than the last batch. The other type of cell, the ones that are supposed to last a lifetime, eventually wear out as well. That's why you grow old, that's why your organs fail, eventually the long-lived cells die, and the replenishable ones can't grow new cells with a high enough quality to support life."

"But you said I'm not dying?" Rose was starting to form a pretty clear picture in her head of what was going on.

"No," he answered her, "You're cells replace themselves just like everyone else's does, only your's grow back perfect." Rose continued to stare at him, her pale face growing even more ghostly as his explanation progressed. "I know the why. I'm not exactly sure of the how yet, but."

"I know how," she cut him off. "I know exactly how."

"What do you mean Rose?" His expression was doubtful and cautious, as if he feared for her sanity.

"We never talked about that day again," she continued, "After you took the time vortex away from me. You changed, and that was so traumatic we never reflected back on what had caused it." Rose squeezed her lover's hand again for comfort, and drew in a fortifying breath. "I don't really remember this," she admitted, "I just sort of _know_ it, like how a bird knows how to fly. You wake up one morning and the information's just there, jump and soar." She looked up at him then, her eyes round and pleading, "I am the bad wolf, I create myself."

The Doctor flinched; he'd never expected to hear those words again. "I'm sorry, Rose," he said, bringing her fingertips to his lips, "I'm so sorry."

"S'okay," she said, smiling a bit. "I never figured it out either, despite how many clues there were. We thought we'd put the whole thing behind us, but where did we say good-bye Doctor?" His eyes grew wide at the realization, "That's right," she said, "Bad-wolf bay; a message, just like the first time, that I could get back to you, and I did." She grew more animated, "And that wasn't the only time. The werewolf at the Torchwood estate saw it! He looked at me as the moonlight drifted in and said I burned like the sun. How could he have seen it when we couldn't?"

"I don't know Rose," he said, guilt lacing his voice, "but I do know what it's done to you."

A tear slipped from Rose's luminous eyes and slid down her cheek. "It means I'm not human anymore, just like mum said."

"No." he said emphatically, "you are still human; super-human perhaps, ultra-human maybe. You, Rose Tyler," he stated jovially, "are one-hundred percent human with one teeny-tiny superpower." He held up two fingers, millimeters apart to illustrate just how small her newfound ability was. "It's nothing really when compared to the stunning attributes of a Time Lord."

Rose giggled and wiped away her foolish tears. "I guess I'm being silly," she stated, sniffing a bit and rubbing at her nose until the Doctor produced a clean handkerchief, "Give me zombies, ghosts, or monsters and I take it in stride, but something goes weird inside _my_ body and I get all panicky."

"Now that," the Doctor told her sincerely, "sounds almost normal. In fact," He added playfully, "one could almost call it _human_."

Rose beamed at him, her watery smile illuminating the room, "So I can spontaneously heal," she announced, wiping her eyes with the Doctor's hankie, "fancy that."

The Doctor leaned in, cupping her cheek with one hand, to place a quick kiss on pink lips. "I fancy _you_, Rose Tyler."

"Okay," Rose said confidently, determined to get back on track, "so I told you how I acquired my little super power, you promised to deliver with the why." She blew her nose as the Doctor turned to fiddle with some the controls behind him. The display showed a spinning image of twisted lines.

"This," he informed her, "is your DNA." Rose looked on with interest. "This," he announced magnifying the image even further, "is your DNA spliced with time."

"Doctor," Rose said sweetly.

"Yes love," he answered, his voice high.

"I didn't pass biology."

"Right!" He exclaimed, spinning back around, "Well then," he stabbed both sets of fingers though his hair and rubbed vigorously. "Tiny particles of the time Vortex, presumably stashed there while you were under the influence of the Bad Wolf, have encoded themselves into your DNA. Now, "he continued, "This hasn't changed the structure of your cells in any way, other than to make them stronger, and as I stated before, grow back new cells identical to the ones that die off all the time, and ones for those that aren't supposed to grow back. So when our lovely guests, whom Tyler effectively evicted a few hours ago, decided to steal your life force, instead of dying instantly, your body started making new cells at an alarming rate, refusing to let you die."

"So I'm immortal then?" Rose's voice grew very quiet, afraid to get her hopes up. "I never have to leave you, ever?"

"Everything dies Rose," he cautioned, "even me. Eventually this little gift will run out, but it's going to take a good long while, a few hundred years at least."

Rose blanched as that information sunk in, "But I did die," she remembered suddenly, "I stopped breathing, my heart stopped beating."

"Only for a few minutes." He insisted, shuddering at the memory. "The phantoms were sucking out your life energy, causing every cell in your body to die and quickly regenerate," he paused for a moment and frowned, "wait a minute. Where have I heard that before?" Rose glared at him, but the Doctor just waved a hand to dismiss the problem and continued. "Right, so once the cell growth got all caught up you started breathing again. Brand new cells for your skin, hair, heart, liver, everything really. Your head wound even healed up. And Time Lords thought we had the patent on that little trick, you even managed to do it while keeping the same face."

"Okay, Mr. Impressive," Rose smirked at him, "tell me something I don't know."

"What?" His face fell at having been cheated out of his big reveal.

"I worked that out hours back,' she said, holding up a hand, fingers spread wide to display her newly long nails. "My tan's disappeared, and it made my nails and hair grow. I'm a bit put out about it," she added nonchalantly, pointing to her dark roots, "as now I have to go back to the salon."

The Doctor just gaped at her, clicking his jaws together a few times before finally coming up with a suitable retort. "Well," he blew air out though clenched teeth, causing his lips to vibrate, "I suppose there is _one_ little thing I can add to that." He turned back to the controls and pushed a few buttons. "The vomiting concerned me, as it shouldn't have had anything to do with your little regeneration trick, so I did a complete scan of your body while you were sleeping." The Doctor took a deep breath and glanced back at her, his form tense, his soul back in his eyes. "You're hair's not the only thing that's grown."

Rose felt what little color her skin now possessed rush out of her body like low tide. She slid a single hand down her abdomen and placed it under her t-shirt to cup the soft skin protecting the gentle curve of her belly. Rose had the sudden absurd thought that maybe she owed mum's drycleaners an apology. Because there, next to the Doctor, magnified to fill the screen, was a little being; ten tiny fingers, ten similar toes, two eyes, one beating heart.

Rose was pregnant.

* * *

_A/N: This chapter has been dedicated to gaiafreedom21, who is sooo nice, and so desperate for Rose to have the Doctor's baby, that I just had to grant her request. _


	16. Forever

_A/N: _

_Okay, here it is, the very last chapter of Come Back to Me. I am really going to miss this story, and I selfishly hope that you all will too. My sequal is going to be called "Return for Me," and I hope you want to read it as much as I want to write it. An easy way to find it once I post it (which hopefully will be by the end of the week) is by putting me on your author alert list._

_I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been so wonderful and reviewed this story. It is my first one ever and if you start at the beginning and read all the way through you can see how I've improved. So, thanks again for your support. I would mension you all by name but I would leave someone out and feel terrible, so you all know who you are._

_I write a bit about Gallifrey and Time Lord Tradition in this chapter. Much of it is cannon, as I've done some research for this story. A lot of it is made up though, so if I make some grievous error, please just forgive me and chalk it up to poetic license._

_As stated before, I own nothing. woe is me._

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**Forever**

Rose was pregnant.

The Doctor had known from the moment he'd switched on the scanner and heard a sound that certainly didn't belong in her monocardiac system. The second heartbeat was galloping; beating out an impossibly fast rhythm that while alarming for most listeners, was perfectly normal at this stage of fetal development. He'd gaped at it; actually just stood there with his jaw hanging open expecting the vibrant three dimensional image to disappear if he dared to blink. One couldn't blame him really; he'd still been reeling from the discovery that Rose could quite possibly outlive him; that she might actually be able to deliver on that promise of forever he'd never quite allowed himself to believe in.

How many times had he denied the possibility of a normal life? A stone church came to mind; reapers swarming its painted windows as a frightened bride and groom told him their story. He'd envied those two, despite the horrible fate that awaited them all, and bared his soul a little in his reply, "_Street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home. I've never had a life like that."_ And to Rose on that painful day on a cold beach in Norway, _"Here you are, living a life day after day, the one adventure I can never have."_ But the words that were really coming back to haunt him now were not all his protestations of the mundane, but something very simple that hadn't crossed his mind again, _"Never say never ever."_ Four simple words he'd used to warn Rose that they couldn't be together forever and instead they mocked him with complete reversal. Here it was, the fulfillment of all his dreams and the culmination of all his fears; a woman to spend the rest of his life with, a child in her womb, a second chance. _Domesticity, thy name is Rose._

He'd meant to break it to her gently; explain in detail exactly why she was going to live a few hundred years longer than generally expected and then smoothly transition in the tiny detail that she was carrying his child. But did he follow that plan? No, he had to give in to that one unfortunate personality quirk this body came with and blurt it out in the rudest way possible. _Moron, thy name is Doctor. _

So now he found himself gaping again; shock at his bluntness evident in both his and Rose's expressions. The love of his life lay not five feet away from him, one delicate hand cupped protectively against the curve of her stomach. Her soft skin, already pale due to consisting of entirely brand new cells, waned dangerously close to gray and the Doctor stepped forward, concerned that she'd topple from the infirmary cot. He placed a hand gently on her shoulder and held his breath, waiting for her to speak.

The Doctor watched, horrified as Rose buried her face in both delicate hands. He quickly moved to sit alongside her, drawing her shaking body into his arms and rocking back and forth. "I'm so sorry Rose," He soothed, both hearts almost choking him in their effort to crawl out of his throat. "We'll get through this, I promise." Rose took a deep shuddering breath and the Doctor pulled back a bit, both hands gripping her upper arms, and desperately looked into her eyes. The huge grin plastered across her face was a bit of a surprise.

Rose let out a tremendous laugh, her mirth overflowing into streams of delicate tears. "Sometimes the genes just aren't compatible," she managed to mock him; throwing his exact words back at him between deep gasping breaths. She pointed at him rudely with one white finger, while clutching her slightly swollen stomach with the other hand; hiding for a moment the inspiration for this giggle fit. "You said it would take a while and we got it right the first try!" Rose took another deep breath and continued, "Is having 'super sperm' just another Time Lord super power?"

"Cheeky git," The Doctor scolded, relief and joy pouring out of him in continuous waves. "I thought you were upset."

"Nope," she insisted jumping up from her place on the cot. Her slippered feet padded across the metal floor as she quickly moved closer to the console. She slid both hands down the view screen, tracing the features of their child with her fingertips. "This is brilliant!" More joy bubbled out of Rose as she tilted her head back to erupt in more glorious laughter. "We're having a baby!"

Rose's unadulterated happiness was contagious and he found himself grinning like a mad man in the face of her joy. He moved to join her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into the side of his body, molding her form to his. He copied Rose's tactile exploration, his long fingers following hers in their incoherent pattern on the magnified image.

Her hand stalled in the center of the screen and she quieted, her giggles ceasing for the moment. She looked up at his beaming face, her soul in _her_ eyes this time. "There's only one heart." She said, her voice light, but questioning as she turned to face him. "I s'pose it's silly really," she added, reaching up to caress both sides of his chest through the blue jacket, "but I'd rather hoped for two."

The Doctor smiled indulgently and smoothed a stray strand of golden hair over the elegant curve of her ear, "My people were actually born with just one heart," he explained, causing Rose's jaw to drop in surprise. "We're actually quite similar to humans the first time around. We grow up, we grow old, and just as we're about to die, we regenerate and grow a second heart. That's when we stop aging."

Rose glanced back over her shoulder at the image and bit her lower lip. "Do you reckon our baby will be able to do that," she asked him, sounding a bit unsure at this point.

The Doctor placed his hands over her's where they lay against his dual hearts and broke into a smile that could melt glass. "Oh yes," he answered enthusiastically, shaking his head for dramatic effect, "She may be little, but she is definitely a Time Lady." He moved over to the other end of the console, all but dragging Rose by the hand in his enthusiasm. After flipping a few switches and turning a lever the same swirling lines from before appeared on the screen.

"That's my DNA," Rose stated matter-of-factly, while gesturing to the familiar double-helix.

"Right you are Rose," he replied proudly, while pushing another set of buttons. A strange image appeared next to Rose's DNA, the same kind of swirling lines, only many more of them all packed together and made of many, many more colors. "That," he told her, "is my DNA. Well," he amended, tugging on the lobe of one ear, "It's not really called that but you get the idea."

"Blimey!" Rose exclaimed, flashing him an incredulous look, "it's amazing you look human at all."

"Oi," he answered her, sounding hurt, "it's you lot that take after us you know." Rose just rolled her eyes. "It's true. All those so called 'humanoids' actually take after the Time Lords. We were here first."

Rose lay her head against his arm for a moment in appeasement, "alright superman," she soothed, her lighthearted smile warming him to the core, "got anything else to show me?"

"Right!" he exclaimed, getting back to the task at hand. A third picture flashed onto the screen, the same number of swirling lines as the Doctor, but the colors were similar to Rose's, with a few of the Doctor's unique ones thrown in. "This is the baby's DNA," he explained, "it consists of many human components, but is structured like a Time Lord. My genes are very dominant, so she should be able to regenerate all twelve times." The Doctor frowned, his voice suddenly growing quiet, "Our daughter's going to outlive the both of us by quite a bit." A sick dread bubbled up inside his stomach, threatening to become despair. He'd finally found his forever and in the process doomed his child to a lonely future. Once he and Rose were gone, and Tyler too by that point, she'd be all alone.

Rose reached for her lover's hand and interlaced their fingers together. As usual she knew exactly the right thing to say. "We'll just have to make sure she has company then, wont we?"

The Doctor broke into a half smile, "More Tylers on the way?"

"Hmm," Rose agreed, letting her tongue peak out the side of her mouth in a trademark cheeky grin. "_Time Lord_ Tylers."

The Doctor shuddered, remembering a certain Jackie Tyler and her stinging palm. "The universe better watch out now."

"You're not kidding," Rose caressed her belly, "So how far along am I?" she asked him, moving across the room to once again look at the display of their baby.

"Hard to say really," The Doctor replied, causing Rose to frown a bit. "If I go by fetal development alone I'd guess you're just about to start your second trimester. She's got a skeletal structure, all her basic organs, and fingerprints. So the baby is almost fully formed, apart from her dainty size, which right about now could be compared to a satsuma."

"But?" She prompted him, as if waiting for the other shoe to fall. The Doctor tightened his grip around her shoulders for a second in a sideways hug.

"But," he continued animatedly, "I have no way of knowing how long those trimesters are supposed to be. Humans take about forty weeks to gestate, Time Lord roughly twice that. You could have anywhere from six to twelve months to go. We'll just have to take this one day at a time and see what happens."

"Okay," Rose swallowed convulsively and managed to tear her gaze away from their child's image long enough to look at the Doctor. "I'm going to remain calm and not become a complete nutter at the idea of being pregnant for a year." Rose took another deep breath. "Oh my god a _year_!"

The Doctor took a deep breath of his own and turned to cup her face in his hands. "Rose," he cautioned firmly, "try and keep it together okay, it might not be that long." Rose didn't look convinced; she bit her bottom lip as if trying not to cry. He stifled a groan, a whole year of these mood swings and _he_ might just go mad. "Look." He said, placing a hand on the screen, right next to the tiny wriggling form, "she's perfect Rose, absolutely perfect, and she's _ours_."

Rose placed her palm over the Doctor's long fingers and smiled again, her laugh came out choked, but was genuine nonetheless, "she is beautiful isn't she?"

The Doctor moved in closer behind his love and lightly caressed her ear with his lips, "Just like her mother."

Rose beamed, all vestiges of the brief panic attack gone, "I'm gonna be a mum!"

The Doctor slid his hand from the screen to enfold Rose in both arms, her back to his chest. "According to Tyler," he said seriously, "you already are."

"Seriously?" Rose turned in his embrace to gaze up at him, "He's a great kid and all, but he just met me?"

"That's not how he sees it," The Doctor led Rose back to the cot and sat her up on the stool he'd been occupying a few minutes ago. He stood in front of her, fidgeting slightly. "I suppose it's my fault really. I was so sure I had this amazingly domestic scene set up for us in the TARDIS. I never stopped to realize it was actually just a couple of bachelors traveling the universe." The Doctor paused, and looked down at his feet for a moment, ashamed at not knowing his son better. "He was a baby," he admitted, "and so I could share things with him that I couldn't with someone who might judge me. His bedtime stories were of bygone days and dreams of another life; tales of my home world, and memories of love." He looked up at Rose then, unsure of how to continue.

"You told him about me." It wasn't a question; his Rose was nothing if not insightful.

"Yeah," he admitted. "And I suppose at some point you became a bit of a hero in his eyes. He dreams of us all being a family together; said as much when I put him to bed just before meeting you here."

Rose leaned in and placed her forehead against The Doctor's, "I suppose If we're going to have this little one running around calling me 'mum' it wouldn't hurt for Tyler to use it too. Although," she added playfully, "It is going to be a bit strange at first, him being only about six years younger than I am."

The Doctor pulled her close again, his love for this woman threatening to overwhelm him once again. "Sometimes," he told her affectionately, "you make me feel just like the old man I pretend not to be." Rose smiled and leaned in to brush his lips with hers in a brief kiss. "And other times, "he continued, returning her grin, "you make me feel so very young; as if the universe has just begun for me and I have my whole life ahead.

"You do." Rose answered him, placing her palm against one of his freckled cheeks and caressing his cheekbone with one thumb. "You have a whole life ahead of you with me. And you never have to be alone again."

The Doctor leaned into her caress and closed his eyes, keeping the tears from escaping by sheer determination. No one had ever made him that promise but Rose. Even Tyler would grow up and find a life of his own, just as Susan had, just as they all had. But Rose wanted to stay with him forever, and now, (he thought about those amazing little time vortex particles sprinkled throughout her DNA) now she could.

He fingered the slight weight in his left trouser pocket for a moment, verifying that it as still there, before wrenching open his eyes. Gazing into Rose's lovely hazel orbs he willed her to see all the love, and longing he held for her. Reaching for her hand and intertwining their fingers he said, "Come with me."

* * *

Rose held the Doctor's hand and let him lead her down into a section of the TARDIS that she had never seen before. Down, down, down into her depths they'd traveled, past the living quarters and the wardrobe room, past the kitchen and the library, beyond two gardens, and the swimming pool. She'd followed him down too many dark corridors and spiral staircases to count, until finally they emerged into a massive stone chamber. The room reminded Rose of an ancient cathedral, complete with balconies and flying buttresses, and she half expected Dracula to peak out from one its dark alcoves. Strange symbols accented the doorways and pillars; circles with some sort of scroll worked figure eight inside that Rose had never seen before. The purpose for the room however, seemed to be the mysterious stone dome resting in its center.

"What is this place?" She asked the Doctor, whispering in an instinctive respect for holy ground.

"This was," he told her reverently, "My link to the Eye of Harmony."

"What's that?"

"Many, Many centuries ago Rassilon, the first Time Lord, created a massive power source out of a black hole and that event is what made Time Travel possible. He called it the Eye of Harmony, and the TARDIS, and all ships like her, used to be powered by it."

Rose approached the stone dome and rested her hand against the short wall that protected it, "That's a beautiful story," she told him, "sounds a bit like those myths from Earth. You know, like 'how the leopard got its spots,' or 'why rain falls down instead of up."

The Doctor let out a sad smile and took her hand again, "It does sort of sound like a legend doesn't it? My people spoke of Rassilon so reverently it might as well have been. Doesn't matter anymore though; the original eye is gone, burned to dust just like its planet."

"That's why we have to power up at the rift yeah?"

The Doctor just nodded and turned away, leading her out of the chapel. "This isn't what we came to see, come on."

They traveled on a bit further, through more archways adorned with that mysterious figure eight, and finally came to an official looking set of double doors. The Doctor paused then, as if hesitant to go further. Rose was starting to worry now; this man, usually so confident, seem lost somehow, and Rose was at a loss as to how fix him.

"We don't have to go in," she assured him, "We can go right back upstairs to our bedroom. I'll be the damsel in distress; you can be the Lord of Time…" Rose trailed off, flashing him a cheeky grin.

That seemed to knock whatever demons the Doctor was struggling with right out of him, at least for the moment, and he returned her grin with one of those gorgeous smiles she'd come to love so much. "As tempting as that prospect is," he told her lightly, "there _is_ something I wanted to show you."

"All right," she said, standing on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. "But my offer still stands should you care to take me up on it."

"Duly noted." He assured her, placing a palm on each door. "But I think you might just want to have a look at this."

Rose gasped in wonder as the Doctor pushed open the double doors with a mighty heave. If she'd thought the stone chamber was impressive, this was unimaginable. Taking a few small steps, she found herself in a garden, set at night with a glorious expanse of stars overhead. Two moons illuminated the silver leaved trees, one of which was so large she almost expected it to tumble out of orbit. Rose kicked off her slippers and buried her toes in the blood red grass, luxuriating in its softness. A stone fountain, adorned with those same circular symbols lay in the center of the garden, its gentle spray creating a soothing trickling sound. Rose approached it and let her fingers drift in the cool water as her eyes gazed toward the horizon. She could just make out a huge city in the distance, its towering spires and massive cathedrals all encased in a large glass dome.

"Where are we?" Rose asked, turning to face the Doctor. The look on his beloved face was all the answer she needed.

"I've dreamed of seeing you in this place." His rough voice was almost as startling as the tears that streamed down each cheek. She'd seen him tear up before, but the sight of her Doctor crying in earnest was almost enough to break Rose's heart. "Each TARDIS was given a place like this," he explained, "a little garden with a holographic sky to help ease the pain of being away from home. If I chose it could be daylight, the two suns turning the sky a glorious burnt orange, but I wanted to see you in the moonlight." His voice cracked with the last word and Rose ran to where he seemed frozen in place to wrap him in her arms.

"What was it called?" She asked him reverently as he buried his face in her neck.

"Gallifrey." The name came out like a prayer, a single word that spoke of so much longing, and regret.

Rose stroked his hair and rocked back and forth just as he'd done for her earlier. "It was beautiful."

The Doctor straightened and viciously rubbed at his eyes, sniffling a bit. "Yes it was," he agreed, a slight but proud smile transforming his features. "It was beautiful, and I didn't appreciate it until it was gone."

Rose took his hand in her's, trying to lend him some comfort. "We're all like that," she told him, "nobody appreciated home until they haven't got one anymore. I'd say it was very human but…"

The Doctor managed a chuckle at that and moved to take her back into his arms. "I wanted to see you here," he told her again. "I _needed_ to see you here."

"Well I'm here," she agreed, "squeezing him tightly, "and I'm not going anywhere."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about actually," His voice was clear again as he stepped back and buried both hands in this trouser pockets. "You left your family for me."

"You're my family," Rose insisted, interrupting him.

"Yeah, I know Rose," he whined, shuffling his feet a bit. "Can you just let me get this out?"

Rose blushed and then made a gesture that imitated buttoning her lips together.

"Okay," he continued, taking a deep breath. "We've just found out that we're going to be together for a long time and that's amazing. It's more than amazing it's brilliant!" He ran his fingers compulsively through his hair a bit before once more clasping his palm to her's. "But it means I'm going to change."

"What?" Rose looked a little panicked, "Right now?"

"No Rose," he answered, flashing her an indulgent smile, "but someday I will. This body will give up, or I'll be injured enough for it to be fatal, and I'll regenerate again."

"I've been through that before, I can handle it again; especially now that I know what to expect."

"But you don't Rose." He told her, "I could look like anything. I could be, fat, thin, bald, ginger, blond, young or old. I'm over nine centuries old Rose," he added dejectedly, "what if I looked like it."

"First off," Rose told him, "nobody can '_look'_ nine-hundred old, and secondly, Harrison Ford is like pushing seventy isn't he? And most women on Earth would jump at the chance of having him." Rose reached up a hand to cover the Doctor's mouth before he could shoot it off again. "I loved you with blue eyes, I love you with brown. I loved your big ears and your nose, and your mad grin. I loved your short hair; I love your big hair. I don't know how many times I have to say this, but I'm NEVER leaving you."

The Doctor's big brown eyes softened with Rose's declaration and he reached back into one pocket, pulling out something shiny on a chain. "I was hoping you'd say that, so I brought something for you."

Rose put out her hand and a delicate gold pendant was placed in its center. "I've seen this," she exclaimed in wonder, "all over the old part of the ship.

Her lover moved in close to gently trace the edge of the circular pendant with one long finger. "This is the seal of Rassilon," he explained, pointing to the golden figure eight with the bright red background, "and the colors indicate my family house. On Earth one might mistake it for the infinity symbol; probably an unconscious acknowledgement of my people passed down over time."

Rose stared down at the beautiful piece of jewelry as her eyes began to sting with unshed tears. "You're giving me forever?"

"No Rose," he answered, gently removing the pendant from her palm, "You've already given me that. I'm asking you to marry me." Rose couldn't reply past the lump that had formed in her throat. "Wearing this symbol denotes you as my wife. Of course we can go to Earth, or find a colony out there to do it your way, but my people would have considered you family as soon as you agreed to wear it." He kept speaking when Rose didn't answer. "We won't even begin to examine what they would have thought about you being human…"

"Stop Doctor!" she managed to choke out. "Just stop right there." She laid her palm against the closed fist within which he held the pendant and looked up into his eyes. Her own tears blurred the proof of his anxiety. "Just put it on me okay? Right now." Rose let out a slightly hysterical laugh as she pulled her hair out of the way for him, "before you change your mind."

The Doctor quickly unclasped the golden chain and laid it gently against her throat, softly kissing the skin just below her collarbone where the pendant lay. He looked up then, the fire in his eyes exciting Rose to her very core. "How long are you going to stay with me?" The words came out in a passionate growl.

"Forever," she told him, pulling his head down to meet her's. "Forever."

They came together then, his lips covering her's, her tongue entering his greedy mouth. Rose slid the azure jacket off her lover's shoulders and frantically tugged at the dress shirt where it was tucked into his trousers, desperate to feel the skin underneath. Her hot hands stroked up his back and the Doctor moaned at the contact. Placing a palm firmly between her shoulder blades, he gently lowered them to the burgundy grass, making sure to lean most of his weight on the other hand during their descent. Rose wrapped her legs around his waist, needing to be closer, needing more of him. She was just reached up to burry all ten fingers in his glorious hair when he stopped her; abruptly clutching each wrist and bringing them down to the ground, effectively pinning her beneath him. "How long," he said again, his voice ragged, his breath coming in labored pants, "Are you going to stay with me?"

Rose looked up into his passion filled eyes. If he needed to hear it again she'd say it. She'd scream it to the universe every day until he learned to believe. "Forever," She told him, pouring all of her love and passion into the single word. "I'm gonna love you forever."

"Good," he said softly, releasing her wrists to gently cup her face in his palms. "Because that's how long I need to love you."

_Fin_


End file.
